Hannah Graham and Zoe Nicholson

Nominations for this year’s Green Party of England and Wales Executive (GPEx) elections close at 12:00pm on June 30. And two more candidates have announced at the eleventh hour that they’re standing.

Former Young Greens co-chair Hannah Graham has announced she’ll be standing for campaigns coordinator. Graham is a London based Green activist, currently eighth on the Green Party’s list for the 2021 London Assembly elections. She was also previously vice president of Teeside University Students’ Union and has worked in campaigns for eight years.

Graham wants to see the Green Party more active in wider campaigning, referencing the fact that the Green Party was born out of social movements.

Speaking to Bright Green on her candidacy, Graham said:

I joined the Green Party back in 2014 because it was the only party liberating the marginalised, championing diversity and giving a platform to people like me: a working class young woman from rural Lincolnshire.

It was defending Free Education on my University campus that inspired and compelled me to take action against the growing inter-generational and cultural divides in our society. After being elected to the role of Vice President of my Students’ Union for two years, I led the Free Education strikes on campus, joined the Green Party then stood as parliamentary candidate in Middlesbrough in 2015, achieving 4.3% of the vote and standing as the first Green candidate in this constituency.

She continued by saying she wished to “bridge the gap” between the Green Party and other campaign groups. She said:

Recent attacks and violations to our basic human rights have shown that our campaigns need to be relevant to our members and reactive to the world we live in. It’s important we have people with lived experience spearheading our campaigns. I will make efforts to bridge the gap between The Green Party and campaigning groups, ensuring we are on the right side of history

Graham’s bid to be elected as the next campaigns coordinator pits her against Huntingdon based Daniel Laycock.

Alongside Graham’s announcement, Zoe Nicholson today entered the race to be the party’s next elections coordinator. Nicholson currently serves as the party’s management coordinator on GPEx. She also is leader of Lewes District Council, where the eight strong Green group of councillors helped oust the previous Conservative administration in 2019. She leads an alliance in control of the council supported by the Greens, Liberal Democrats, Labour and an independent.

Speaking to Bright Green, Nicholson said that there needed to be Greens in “all levels of government”. She said:

The climate emergency, the public health crisis and the oncoming recession means we have to get more Greens elected in all levels of government. We need Greens in power to make sure no one is left behind and that the planet is habitable. The Elections Co-ordinator needs to make sure the party has the resources and focus to ensure we have coherent, well resourced election winning strategy. I’m offering to put my in-depth knowledge of developing successful strategies towards achieving our ambitious election goals at all levels of government

Nicholson is the third candidate to enter the race for elections coordinator. Two job share candidates have already stepped forward – Claire Stephenson and Kai Taylor, and Joe Levy and Laurie Needham.

Members will be balloted for the GPEx elections throughout August. To date, the current candidates for the eleven positions up for election this year are as follows:

  • Leader or co-leaders – Jonathan Bartley & Sian Berry; Rosemary Sexton
  • Deputy Leader – Nick Humberstone; Amelia Womack; Cleo Lake; Tom Pashby
  • Chair – Benjamin Smith & Ashley Routh; Ewan Jones; Adrian Spurrell
  • Campaigns Co-ordinator – Daniel Laycock; Hannah Graham
  • Elections Co-ordinator – Kai Taylor & Claire Stephenson; Joe Levy & Laurie Needham; Zoe Nicholson
  • External Communications Co-ordinator – Peter Underwood
  • Management Co-ordinator – Florence Pollock & Matt Browne
  • International Co-ordinator – Sam Murray & Alice Hubbard; Alex Horn & Erwin Schaefer
  • Policy Development Co-ordinator – Liam McClelland; Peter Sims & Sam Alston
  • Publications Co-ordinator – Danny Keeling; Jack Lenox
  • Trade Union Liaison Officer – Paul Valentine & Matthew Hull; Kefentse Dennis

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