Leadership elections are afoot as Caroline Lucas is stepping down as co-leader later this month. And among some known faces, a new generation of Greens emerges.
Voting for the Green Party’s leadership election only opens July 30th, but the final lists have been announced.
Here’s your guide to the race, with all you ever wanted to know about each candidate and their much contested seats.
Green Party Leader
There are three bids for the party’s most coveted leadership position, including a joint ticket with one of the incumbents. The position was held by Caroline Lucas between 2008 and 2012, but she stepped down two years after being elected an MP for Brighton Pavilion. The role was taken up by Natalie Bennett, who held the position until 2016. She was replaced by Lucas and the then work and pensions spokesman Jonathan Bartley, who have held the position as a job-share. Lucas announced in May she would not seek reelection as leader.
Candidates
Shahrar Ali
Ali is the former deputy leader of the Green Party – a position he held between 2014 and 2016 together with Amelia Womack. He has also filled the role of home affairs spokesperson for the party.
He unsuccessfully stood in several elections including the 2015 general election, as the Green candidate for Brent Central, and the 2012 London Assembly election (for Brent & Harrow).
He has a background in academia, having worked for Queen Mary, University London, and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Ali is also the author of Why Vote Green 2015.
Jonathan Bartley & Sian Berry
Bartley is one of the incumbent co-leaders together with outgoing Caroline Lucas. He became a councillor in the south London of Lambeth during the 2018 local elections. His career in the Greens has seen him be the party’s press officer, as well as contender for his local constituency seat in Streatham, and to London Assembly elections.
Bartley is also known for being a frequent contributor to BBC One’s The Big Questions show, a co-founder of think tank Ekklesia, and the drummer of blues band The Mustangs.
Berry is a member of the London Assembly and was the Green’s London Mayoral candidate in 2008 and 2016. She was the party’s female principle speaker from 2006 to 2007.
During her campaign to London Assembly Berry became known for being one of the few candidates renting rather than owning their homes. She is active in anti-gentrification campaigns and has authored a series of books about green living.
Leslie Rowe
Not much is known about Leslie Rowe, other that he has been a Green Party candidate for the Richmond constituency, North Yorkshire, in several elections, including the 2015 general election.
He publicly supported the Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum in 2016, as well as being an advocate for a new independence referendum in Scotland.
He was a Liberal Democrat member in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He is a retired accountant.
Deputy Leader
The role has become increasingly important in recent years, with some of the party’s most vocal members coming to the fore through the position. The seat was filled by Shahrar Ali together with the incumbent Amelia Womack between 2014 and 2016. Womack has since filled the position solo. There are five people running for the position.
Candidates
Aimee Challenor
Challenor is the spokesperson for equalities LGBTIQA+ for the Greens. She’s a 20 year-old activist from Coventry. If elected Challenor would be the first trans woman in a party deputy leadership role in Britain.
Jonathan Chilvers
Chilvers is a councillor in Warwickshire and was the party’s Warwick & Leamington candidate at the 2017 snap elections.
Andrew Cooper
A Green councillor in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, Cooper also filled the role of energy spokesperson for the Green Party. He is also a member of the EU Committee of the Regions.
Rashid Nix
Like Womack, Nix carved his role in the party by being active in south London. He was one of the party’s candidates to the 2015 general election, as well as a council hopeful in 2018.
Amelia Womack
The incumbent is the youngest deputy leader of a British party. She has ran for a series of elections on behalf of the Green Party, including the 2015 general election as the Camberwell and Peckham candidate.
The race will also include the election of seven other leadership positions for the length of a two year term, including the role of party chair. Another three one-year term roles are also up for grabs.
All fully paid Green Party members can vote in the election, which will be open until August 31.
Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.
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