Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2012

Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2012

1 August 2012 - 3 September 2012

Candidate Natalie Bennett Peter Cranie First preferences 1,300 902 First preferences (%) 42.17% 29.26% 2-Candidate Preferred 1,757 1,204 2-Candidate Preferred (%) 59.34% 40.66%   Candidate Romayne Phoenix Pippa Bartolotti First preferences 492 389 First preferences (%) 15.96% 12.62%

Leader before election Caroline Lucas Elected Leader Natalie Bennett

Green Party of England and Wales deputy leadership election, 2012

3 September 2012

Candidate Will Duckworth Richard Mandler First preference votes 1,329 1,245 Percentage 47.9% 44.9%

Deputy leader before election Adrian Ramsay Elected Deputy leader Will Duckworth

The Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2012 took place in August and September 2012. The party has elections every two years for Leader and Deputy Leader roles and this is the third election since the party decided to switch from having principal speakers to having a leader and a deputy leader, or co-leaders. In May 2012, Caroline Lucas announced that she would not seek re-election, hoping that instead other talented individuals could rise to the top of the party. This was an unexpected development for most Green Party members, and is remarkable in being the only time in recent British political history that a party leader has stepped down voluntarily and without pressure from inside the party.

Subsequently, four candidates announced that they would seek to take over from Lucas. These are:

• Pippa Bartolotti - current leader of Wales Green Party from Newport
• Natalie Bennett - former editor of Guardian Weekly from Camden, London
• Peter Cranie - a lecturer from Liverpool
• Romayne Phoenix - former teacher & Chair of the Coalition of Resistance from Lewisham, London.

The incumbent Deputy Leader, Adrian Ramsay, who was widely expected to contest the election for Leader of the party announced that would not stand in that election, nor for re-election as Deputy Leader. Four candidates were successfully nominated for the election for Deputy Leader, these being:
Caroline Allen - a vet from Islington, London;
Will Duckworth - a local councillor & former teacher from Dudley;
Richard Mallender - a local councillor & local council worker from Nottingham;
Alexandra Phillips - a local councillor & teacher from Brighton and Hove.

All members of the party were sent ballot papers in the post with their copy of the party's magazine, 'Green World' at the beginning of August 2012 and had to be returned before 31 August 2012. The result was declared at 11am, Monday 3 September 2012. Natalie Bennett was elected Leader. Will Duckworth was elected Deputy Leader.

Results

The results were as follows:

Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2012[1]
Party		Candidate	% 1st Pref	Count 1	Count 2	Count 3
	Green	Natalie Bennett	42.17%	1,300	1,487	1,757
	Green	Peter Cranie	29.26%	902	976	1,204
	Green	Romayne Phoenix	15.96%	492	585
	Green	Pippa Bartolotti	12.62%	389
	RON			28	35	62
Electorate:     Valid: 3,083   Spoilt: 16   Quota: 1,555.6   Turnout: 3,111 (25.1%)

Election of Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Green Party of England and Wales Election of Deputy Leader, 2012
Candidate		1st Pref Votes	2nd Pref Votes	%
	Will Duckworth	1,329		47.9
	Richard Mallender	1,245		44.9
	Re-Open Nominations	200		7.2
	Caroline Allen	Eliminated		Eliminated
	Alexandra Phillips	Eliminated		Eliminated
Turnout
Will Duckworth elected Deputy Leader

References

1. "Green Party|Results of leadership election". Green Party. Retrieved 3 September 2012.