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 Pref. 1,300 902 Percentage 42.17% 29.26% Final Pref. 1,757 1,204 Percentage 59.34% 40.66%   Candidate Romayne Phoenix Pippa Bartolotti First Pref. 492 389 Percentage 15.96% 12.62% Final Pref. Eliminated Eliminated Percentage Eliminated Eliminated

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 Final Pref. 1,329 1,245 Percentage 47.91% 44.88%

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 was 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.^[1]

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

• Pippa Bartolotti then-leader of Wales Green Party;
• Natalie Bennett, a former editor of Guardian Weekly;
• Peter Cranie, a lecturer from Liverpool and European Parliamentary candidate for North-West England in 2009;
• Romayne Phoenix, a former teacher & Chair of the Coalition of Resistance.

The incumbent Deputy Leader, Adrian Ramsay, who was widely expected to contest the election for Leader of the party announced that he would not stand in that election,^[2][3] 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 Dudley local councillor; Richard Mallender, a Nottingham local councillor; and Alexandra Phillips, a Brighton and Hove local Councillor.

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.

Result

The results were as follows:

Leadership Result

Green Party of England and Wales Leadership election, 2012[4]
Candidate		First Round		%	Second Round		%	Final Round		%
	Natalie Bennett	1,300		41.79%	1,487		48.79%	1,757		59.34%
	Peter Cranie	902		28.99%	976		32.02%	1,204		40.66%
	Romayne Phoenix	429		15.81%	585		19.19%	Eliminated
	Pippa Bartolotti	389		12.50%	Eliminated
	Re-open Nominations	28		0.90%	Eliminated
Turnout									3,111	25.1%
Natalie Bennett elected as Leader

Deputy Leadership Result

Under the election rules operating at the time, the Deputy Leader could not be of the same gender as the Leader. Caroline Allen and Alexandra Phillips were thus eliminated and first preference votes cast for them were redistributed to the highest expressed preference for an eligible candidate.^[5] No candidate achieved the necessary quota, but the election rules required that 're-open nominations' not be eliminated, so the candidate with the highest vote was elected.

Green Party of England and Wales Deputy Leadership election, 2012[6]
Candidate		First Round		%
	Will Duckworth	1,300		47.91%
	Richard Mallender	1,245		44.88%
	Re-open Nominations	200		7.21%
	Caroline Allen	Eliminated
	Alexandra Phillips	Eliminated
Turnout			3,127[7]	25.1%
Will Duckworth elected as Deputy Leader

References

1. McCarthy, Michael (14 May 2012). "Green Party leader Caroline Lucas steps aside to aid fight against Lib Dems". The Independent. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
2. McGurran, Deborah (5 September 2012). "Green Party deputy leader Adrian Ramsay stands down". BBC News. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
3. "Adrian not standing for Green Party leader". Adrian Ramsey. 9 June 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
4. "Green Party|Results of leadership election". Green Party. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
5. "Green Party|Results of leadership election". Green Party. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
6. "Green Party|Results of leadership election". Green Party. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
7. There were 353 spoilt papers (including those cast only for a female candidate or candidates)