The London Green Party is celebrating record breaking results following the London elections on 6 May.
Green Party candidate for Mayor of London Sian Berry achieved the party’s best ever result in this election, winning 8 percent of first preference votes. In total, Sian received 197,976 first preference votes, and 486,798 second preference votes. This put Sian comfortably in third place, with the Liberal Democrat candidate in fourth with 4 percent of first preferences.
In 2016, Sian won 6 percent of first preference votes – at the time, the party’s best ever result.
The London Green Party is also celebrating breakthrough on the London Assembly, achieving 12 percent of the vote on the list ballot, electing Zack Polanski onto the London Assembly alongside Sian Berry and Caroline Russell.
Zack Polanski joined the Green Party in 2017 and has a history of campaigning and activism across a range of environmental and social justice issues. He has a background of working in the gig economy, having been an actor, youth worker and mental health counsellor. He is currently a property guardian, giving him first hand experience of London’s housing crisis, and he is the first gay and Jewish person ever to be elected to the London Assembly.
Sian says:
“Londoners have sent a message loud and clear: London can be the greenest city in the world.
“This is the Green Party’s best ever result in an election to become Mayor of London, and with the election of more Green Assembly Members, it is a serious mandate for the ideas we were putting in front of the public this campaign – rent controls, flat fares, and a higher living wage.
“We started conversations in this campaign, we won the arguments, and we set the agenda. Over the three years ahead, Greens will be in City Hall pushing the Mayor to take action on these issues, reminding him that Londoners love our ideas, and winning real change for every single person in this city.
“London did something amazing this week, and Greens are going to make these next years in the Assembly count.
“I want to thank every single Londoner who voted for our positive vision of a transformed city. This is a new start for London, and our members are ready to work even harder to elect new councillors in a year’s time.”
Zack said:
“Being elected to City Hall by Londoners is the honour of my life, and I can’t wait to get started on transforming this amazing city for good.
“The very first thing I want to do is to make a promise: I will never, ever forget who put me here. Renters, workers, commuters, artists, small business owners, disabled people, older people, young people LGBTIQA people, people of colour, everyone who came together and believed in our positive vision for London. I promise that the voice of every Londoner will be heard in City Hall, especially if you feel like you’re not being heard right now.”
