Dear John

Nomination of candidates for the General Election in 2025 (or sooner)

Further to my message last month, we have received an insufficient number of nominations from women seeking to be nominated as prospective General Election candidates. Green Party rules require a second call for nominations under such circumstances.

I write to initiate that second call - hoping to encourage at least two further women to seek nomination. If you submitted nomination forms during the first call, you do not need to do so in the second.

If you would like to be nominated as a prospective General Election candidate, please follow the same procedures as in the first call – repeated below – noting the amended dates, particularly the deadline for submissions (Monday the 24th of October).

As Electoral Returning Officer for West Central London Green Party (“WCLGP”), I now invite nominations for five candidates to stand for the Green Party in the next General Election, one candidate for each of the constituencies of Chelsea and Fulham, Cities of London and Westminster, Hammersmith, Kensington, and Westminster North.

Candidacy:

The next General Election might not take place until 2025. Nominations are being sought now in case an early election is called. We plan to select candidates from eligible nominees during the WCLGP monthly meeting scheduled for 07 November 2022.

The UK government is currently carrying out a review of constituency boundaries across England.[1] The period of candidacy would end as and when proposals to change the boundaries of one or more of the five constituencies are introduced. A fresh nomination and selection process would then be required.

The period of candidacy will also not extend beyond the date on which the results of the forthcoming General Election are announced.

Candidacy would be subject to re-affirmation at each year’s WCLGP Annual General Meeting, starting in 2023. Details of the reaffirmation process would be sent to members in advance. Nominees should confirm in writing or by e-mail that they agree to this procedure by the close of nominations (24 October 2022).

For those who seek to be nominated, please refer to the information available from the Green Party webpage “Selecting a General Election candidate 2022-2025” and then attend to the Nomination Signature, Nomination Statement, and Disclosure forms (click each name to access them). Those three forms should be completed and returned to me by Monday 24 October 2022.

Eligibility:

In addition to other eligibility criteria, nominees should have been a member of the Green Party of England and Wales continuously for one year prior to the date they become a candidate. Candidates shall remain members until the General Election polling day.

The Green Party Regional Council may exempt nominees from that requirement if they have been a member for less than one year, provided that their Nomination Signature form includes the signatures of at least ten nominators. Nominators are members who are fully paid up at the date nominations close and whose addresses are within the five WCLGP constituencies.

Nominations:

Nominations from self-defined female candidates are encouraged – a second round of nominations must take place if no nomination from any such persons is received.

Each prospective candidate must be nominated by at least two nominators. Nominators may nominate prospective candidates in more than one constituency, but not more than one prospective candidate in each.

Timetable:

If a second round of nominations is not required, the timetable currently planned is as follows:

Monday 24 October 2022 - return of Nomination Signature form, Nomination Statement (including, optionally, a photograph - head & shoulders, and Disclosure form.

Tuesday 25 October 2022 - distribution of nominees’ names and, if requested by the nominee, their case for selection and photograph. Postal ballots will be sent to those who (by Sunday 16 October) have requested them.

Monday 07 November 2022 – candidate selection. Hustings and then ballot (to be held electronically) during the WCLGP monthly meeting. Postal ballots must have been received by the ERO prior to the start of the hustings.

With best regards,

James Hewitt

Electoral Returning Officer

(West Central London Green Party)

[1] https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/2023-review/london/