How to vote for GPEx and why
“I don’t do National Green Party stuff.” - something I regrettably hear from too many people in the Green Party.
I’m going to keep this brief, but voting for the Green Party Executive is important for the functioning of the party, and our future prospects on the national stage, if you, like me, perceive a state of malaise around the Green Party, then you should really care about these elections.
It’s important to note that Green Party internal elections are run on the Single Transferrable Vote, so you vote 1. 2. 3. etc, and Reopen Nominations or RON, is the mechanism for saying, this is where the suitable candidates end, for whatever reason you think.
To further guide your voting I’m linking the LGBTIQA+ Greens pledges and the Green Party Trade Union Group Hustings.
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Zack Polanski
Tyrone Scott
RON
Nick Humberstone
Shahrar Ali
Honestly, none of the candidates, as has been the case in the past 3-4 leadership elections, fits the bill for me as an all around good candidate. Zack, Tyrone and Nick are all nice people, I have no idea why Nick keeps running for Deputy and that’s why he’s below RON.
As much as on paper I am probably more aligned to Tyrone politically, he’s explicitly said that he wants to lead and ecosocialist party, I preferenced Zack first. I didn’t feel any fire from Tyrone, and it’s the fire the party needs. Zack spoke with that fire in the LGBTIQA+ Hustings, and I think because the issues spoke about had and do affect him personally, the task Zack needs to overcome now is finding that fire in other political issues, the minimum wage, the Cost of Living crisis etc. Find that fire, that passion, and people will respond to it.
Shahrar Ali is the only transphobe here and that’s why he’s been SuperRoned.
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Jon Nott
Ash Routh & Melanie Earp (née Horrocks)
RON
Adrian Spurrell
Alison Teal and Tina Rothery
The Chair of the Party is arguably more important for our future electoral prospects than Deputy Leader is, the previous Chair did more to degrade and devalue internal GPEW politics than anyone I can think of, unsuspending yourself can have that effect.
I gave my first preference to Jon Nott, primarily because I believe he has the necessary experience to take hold of things quickly, because he understands the intersectionality of the different briefs, (COMMS IS ELECTIONS THEY ARE NOT SEPARATE THINGS), and because I believe in their commitment to ridding us of the parasitic transphobes.
It was a close second but Ash Routh and Mel Earp, still difficult not writing Horrocks, I don’t doubt that between them they have the necessary experience, it’s just a preference thing really.
RON sits above Adrian Spurrell primarily because they chaired GPRC when the Tim Hodgson sexual harassment case ensued, and that was a cluster****.
Alison Teal and Tina Rothery are transphobes, want to turn the party into a non-electoral organisation and that’s why they’re at the bottom.
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RON
Tom Scott
So, I don’t like unopposed electoral races. And second, the only thing I can firmly attribute to Tom is the local elections campaign focus on “The Lewes Model”. If your headline policy’s chief elicited response is “wha?” then your campaign isn’t going far, and a track record like that gets a RON.
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Brian Candeland
RON
Edward Milford
Alan Borgars¹ & Chris Holt²
Brian reigns Supreme here, I am Brian, you are Brian, we are all Brian.
Okay kidding aside, Brian has been in the party since before it was the Green Party, and in a good way not a “I know better than you kids way.” He’s an inclusive and staunch ally. And to be perfectly honest he’s the only choice. Any other is going to mean moving backwards.
Edward Milford is a non-entity as far as I’m concerned, possibly on a yacht in Falmouth Harbour, the party doesn’t need to go back to 2010, we need to go forward and campaign in 2024.
A known sexual harasser¹ and a transphobe² in the only Green Party in London to suffer major losses are the last people to tell us how to campaign nationally, and that’s why they’re ranked last.
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RON
Dylan Lewis-Creser
Molly Scott Cato
RON reigns supreme in this race, a lot of the National Party’s purview is our external communications, so much of our current electoral strategy is currently executed by local parties, the internal comms basically doesn’t exist. External Comms is something which we do great at, if the Party existed in 2010 at the dawn of the Internet Election campaign era.
You can count the Comms team on just over a single hand, you can count the number of viral posts or clips we’ve had on less than that.
Dylan is lovely, but they’re not qualified for this role, simple as.
Molly has been in this role for 2 years and during that time has spoken publicly at conference against launching an inquiry into sexual harassment by Solihull Councillor Tim Hodgson, under her tenure the party’s comms haven’t garnered any real attention, and have continued in the bland unsteered vein that suits the Lib Dems, not the Greens. She appointed not only herself, but also a known transphobe as a spokeperson, and has yet to apologise for it.
RON reigns supreme for a reason folks.
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Stacy Smith
RON
Kefentse Dennis
Stacy Smith gets my vote, and not only because of a glowing endorsement from the previous office holders Matt Browne and Florence Pollock, who did good work in the role. She has experience as the CEO of a women’s charity, and doesn’t both sides stuff, as we’ll come to later.
RON sits above Kefentse because if you can’t say what you’ve done as Trade Union Liaison Officer for 2 years, but then run to be management coordinator, and try and both sides the trans rights conflict in the party, you get RONed. That is all. No endorsements of note to speak of, nope.
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Nannette Youssef & Georgie Oatley
David Farbey
RON
Sarra Earl & Ivan Noke
This is a role which has been inhabited by a list of unsavoury characters for a while now, with its most previous tenant flouncing out after 6 months because the party fired a transphobic spokesperson.
That’s why Nannette and Georgie get my first preference, the millennial no holds barred rage of Nannette coupled with the creativity of Georgie is an unstoppable combination.
David Farbey is a relatively unknown quantity for a lot of people but statements made during the hustings make me think he’d be a good second choice.
Super Megazord RON sits above the final couple, who should never be elected to anything.
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Matthew Hull
RON
Kate Souper & Sarah Bingham
The charming ginger prince of the Green Party Trade Union group has basically been doing the job already, and should have been elected last time. He has the skills, the drive and the experience to work with Trade Unions on campaigns and policies and drive our relationship to a much more positive place.
RON the last two, I beg of you, they really don’t know what they’re doing.
That is all, well done for reaching this far. If you vote like I did, the party will end up in a much better place, and we might actually be in a position to win more than one paltry MP in 2024.