Green Party

The Green Party of England and Wales today announced the results of its internal elections, with new members having been elected to the party’s executive committee (GPEx). The election was marked by a low turnout, with only 7% of eligible members voting.

For the position of Equality and Diversity Co-ordinator, Brixton based Green activist Rashid Nix was elected, picking up 68% of the vote. He defeated the incumbent candidate Claudine Letsae.

Jon Nott was re-elected as the party’s Finance Co-ordinator. He was elected unopposed – defeating only Re-Open Nominations.

Peter Barnett and Hazel Pegg were elected as a job-share to the Internal Communications Co-ordinator position. They were again elected unopposed. But in an at times bitter campaign in which Pegg and Barnett faced allegations of transphobia, and the pair hit out at their critics as “Extremists in the Green Party’s transactive group”, Re-Open Nominations received an unusually high 13% of the vote.

Doug Rouxel, the incumbent Local Party Support Co-ordinator was defeated in his bid for re-election being defeated by Dawn Furness. The final tally of votes saw Doug Rouxel receive 25% of first preference votes, Dawn Furness receive 61%, Martin Blake receive 12% and Re-Open Nominations receive 0.7%. Furness has herself previously faced allegations of transphobia.

Paul Woodhead and Dee Searle were elected unopposed to the positions of Policy Co-ordinator and Publications Co-ordinator respectively. Each of them received over 90% of the vote against only Re-Open Nominations. The LGBTIQA+ Greens actively called for members to vote for Re-Open Nominations in the Publications Co-Ordinator election due to Searle’s publication of article they deemed to be transphobic.

These newly elected members of GPEx will join the other half of the committee elected last year. Presently, the majority of GPEx members serve two year terms and the committee is elected in halves.

It is unclear for how long the new members of GPEx will serve. New governing bodies are set to be ratified at the Green Party of England and Wales’ Autumn Conference in Newport in October. The new governance structure would see GPEx abolished.