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| Turnout | 3,048 (25.1%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2012 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election took place in September 2012 to select a leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. The party's incumbent leader, Caroline Lucas, chose not to seek re-election. The position was won by the journalist Natalie Bennett.
The Green Party of England and Wales elects its leaders every two years. Caroline Lucas was elected as the party's first leader in 2008 and had been re-elected unopposed in 2010. In May 2012, she announced that she wouldn't seek re-election. [1]
The election was contested by Natalie Bennett, a former journalist for The Guardian . [2]
| Candidate | Political office |
|---|---|
 Pippa Bartolotti | Leader of the Wales Green Party (2012–2016) |
 Natalie Bennett | Internal communications coordinator (2007–2011) |
 Peter Cranie | |
 Romayne Phoenix | Chair of the Coalition of Resistance |
| Candidate | Biography |
|---|---|
 Caroline Allen | Islington vet |
 Will Duckworth | Dudley councillor |
 Richard Mallender | Nottingham councillor |
 Alexandra Phillips | Brighton and Hove councillor |
The incumbent deputy leader, Adrian Ramsay, was widely expected to contest the leadership election. However, he announced that he would not stand in that election, nor for re-election as deputy leader. [3] [4]
All members of the party were sent ballot papers in the post with their copy of the party's magazine at the beginning of August 2012. Ballots needed to be returned before 31 August 2012.
The result was declared on 3 September 2012. Natalie Bennett was elected leader and Will Duckworth was elected deputy leader.
The results were as follows:
| Candidate | First round | Second round | Third round | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | |
| Natalie Bennett | 1,300 | 41.8 | 1,487 | 48.8 | 1,757 | 59.3 |
| Peter Cranie | 902 | 29.0 | 976 | 32.0 | 1,204 | 40.7 |
| Romayne Phoenix | 429 | 15.8 | 585 | 19.2 | Eliminated | |
| Pippa Bartolotti | 389 | 12.5 | Eliminated | |||
| Re-open nominations | 28 | 0.9 | Eliminated | |||
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.
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Will Duckworth | 1,300 | 47.9 |
| Richard Mallender | 1,245 | 44.9 |
| Re-open nominations | 200 | 7.2 |
| Caroline Allen | Eliminated | |
| Alexandra Phillips | Eliminated | |
Bennett said she wanted to get MPs elected in every region, setting a target of ten seats. [2]
The Green Party of England and Wales is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay have served as the party's co-leaders. The party currently has one representative in the House of Commons and two in the House of Lords, in addition to hundreds of councillors at the local government level and three members of the London Assembly.
Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician who has twice led the Green Party of England and Wales and has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Pavilion since the 2010 general election. She was re-elected in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, increasing her majority each time.
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Adrian Philip Ramsay is a British politician and co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Carla Denyer. He was previously the deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2008 to 2012. He served as a Norwich City Councillor from 2003 to 2011.
The 2008 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election took place in September 2008 to select the first leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was won by Caroline Lucas who received 92.4% of the vote. At the same time, Adrian Ramsay was elected unopposed as the party's first deputy leader.
The Green Party of England and Wales has its roots in the PEOPLE Party started in Coventry in 1972/3 by four professional friends. It then changed its name to the more descriptive Ecology Party in 1975, and to the Green Party ten years later. In the 1990s, the Scottish and Northern Ireland wings of the Green Party in the United Kingdom decided to separate amicably from the party in England and Wales, to form the Scottish Green Party and the Green Party in Northern Ireland. The Wales Green Party became an autonomous regional party and remained within the new Green Party of England and Wales.
Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle is a British politician and journalist who served as Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in Theresa May's 2019 resignation honours.
The 2010 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election took place in September 2010 to determine the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was won unopposed by the incumbent leader, Caroline Lucas.
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The 2020 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election took place in August 2020 to determine the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. Jonathan Bartley and Siân Berry, who were elected on a joint ticket in 2018, were re-elected as co-leaders while Amelia Womack was re-elected as the party's deputy leader.
The 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election was held from August to September 2021 to select a new leader or leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales. It was triggered by Jonathan Bartley's announcement on 5 July 2021 that he would be standing down as party co-leader. Bartley had been co-leader of the party since 2016, initially serving with the party's Member of Parliament (MP) Caroline Lucas. Sian Berry, who had served as co-leader with Bartley since 2018, did not seek re-election with a new co-leader or by herself.
