The third candidate in 24 hours has announced that they are standing to be leader of the Green Party, with Natalie Bennett the latest to join the race.

Bennett was the editor of Guardian Weekly between 2007 and March this year having previously worked on the Bangkok Post, The Times and the Independent. She’s also worked on women’s and children’s rights in south and southeast Asia. She was a Green candidate in the London Assembly elections this year, and is chair of Green Party Women and Camden Green Party.

The Green Party leader and deputy leader are elected every two years, with the race opening up this year when Caroline Lucas announced that she is standing down to focus on her work as an MP. Other candidates so far are UCU activist and North West Euro candidate Peter Cranie and Wales Green Party leader Pippa Bartolotti who announced their bids this morning and last night respectively. Brighton councillor and teacher Alex Phillips announced last week that she is standing for deputy leader, whilst current deputy leader and Norwich South candidate Adrian Ramsay is yet to announce his intentions.

Speaking to Bright Green today, Bennett said that she would focus on the potential for the party to grow across England and Wales: “We’ve built a great foundation, but we’ve got to go much further, much faster, across the whole country. I feel I can do that.”

She was also quick to emphasise the opportunities the party has, highlighting the financial collapse and need for an alternative economic model: “We’ve got well worked out alternatives. People like our policies, but we have to look big and strong enough that people feel we can represent them.”