Green Party launches 2016 Leadership and Executive Elections website

27 May 2016

* Website goes live ahead of nominations opening

* Nominations for new Green Party Leader open on 1 June 2016

* New Leader will be unveiled at the Green Party’s Autumn Conference in early September

* Paid-up members will be able to nominate and vote in the elections 

Ahead of the opening of nominations for the Green Party’s eagerly anticipated 2016 Leadership and Executive Elections, the website has gone live (1). 

Earlier this month, Natalie Bennett announced (2) that she will not be standing for another term meaning the Green Party’s membership will elect a new Leader this summer. Natalie’s announcement has sparked a flurry of media and party interest in who will comprise the new Leadership team. 

To nominate candidates or to vote in the Green Party Leadership Elections, and the concurrent Green Party Executive Elections, people must be paid-up members of the Green Party of England and Wales. 

A Green Party spokesperson commented:

“The Green Party’s membership and supporters are the lifeblood of the Party. Membership are at the heart of all the Party’s decision-making and it is they will decide who comprises the next Leadership team. While there has been plenty of speculation about who will stand in these elections it is ultimately the membership who will decide. Nobody can stand for a Leader or Deputy Leader position without the backing of members and it is members who will vote for whom they believe in.”

The elections are informed by the Green Party’s constitution which requires that a candidate for (Co-) Leader or Deputy Leader shall have been a member of the Party for the three complete years preceding the date of close of nominations, and such nomination must be supported by the signatures of a minimum of twenty party members. The method of election for the Leadership positions shall be the Single Transferable Vote. Nominations officially open at 10.00 on Wednesday 1 June 2016 and close at 12.00 on Thursday 30 June 2016.  

Electoral Reform Services Ltd have been appointed as an independent agent to administer the elections; ballots will be issued by them via email and (where required) via paper copies, the nomination process will be through their mechanisms and the results will come from their counting process.

Speaking on her decision not to re-stand (3), Natalie said: 

“It's been a privilege and an honour to have the title ‘leader of the Green Party’, but every member of the Green Party is a leader, helping to lead the way towards a society in which we live within our environmental limits while ensuring no one fears hunger or want.”

ENDS

Notes:

[1] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/internal-elections.html

[2] https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2016/05/15/natalie-bennett-not-to-stand-for-third-term-as-green-party-leader/

[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/natalie-bennett/natalie-bennet-green-party-steps-down_b_9985650.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics

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