No time for Greens, claim Hackney election debate organisers
The leaflet advertising the Hackney North hustings on Sunday 2 May
Green and other parties’ candidates hoping to speak to voters at an election hustings this Sunday have been denied a place on the panel, as organisers claim there is not enough time for them.
The Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative candidates for the Hackney North parliamentary seat, as well as for Hackney mayoral and Cazenove ward elections, have all been invited.
Candidates from the other political parties have been excluded, prompting an outcry from the Greens who claim to be among the top parties in the area.
Matt Sellwood, Green parliamentary candidate for Hackney North, commented, “It is deeply disappointing that the voters at this hustings will not have the opportunity to hear the full range of views which will be available on the ballot paper on Thursday 6 May.
“Given that the Green Party achieved 23 per cent of the vote in last year’s European elections, coming second across Hackney, it seems bizarre to claim that we do not have a significant base of support.
“It is particularly strange to exclude us on the basis of vote share in previous elections, and yet not exclude the Conservatives from the local election hustings, despite their fourth place in Cazenove ward last time.
“Nevertheless, I am confident that on election day the voters will remember that we are the only party advocating withdrawal from Afghanistan, abolition of our nuclear weapons and protection of our public services from cuts.”
Conservative mayoral candidate Andrew Boff said, “There are four parties represented on Hackney Council. It therefore seems sensible to me that the electorate should be able to hear from those four parties.
“It’s daft that the Greens shouldn’t be allowed to present their case, flawed as it may be.”
However, organiser Munaf Zeena defended the decision, saying,”We decided to invite the candidates from the three main political parties only because of time considerations.
“We have three hustings one after another which include the parliamentary, the mayoral and Cazenove ward candidates to take place on the same day and one after another.
“We considered that the best placed parliamentary candidates were those from the main political parties and the last general election result for Hackney North constituency would confirm this where the Green Party had 9.9 per cent of the votes compared to 48.6 per cent Labour, 23.3 per cent Liberal Democrats and 14.4 per cent Conservatives.
“I am sorry to all Green Party supporters but I have agreed that they can distribute campaign material if they come along to the hustings.
“I have also offered the Green Party a spot of the Mayoral hustings as the Liberal Democrat candidate will not be attending because of family commitments.”
Mr Zeena did not explain why the candidates in the first, second and fourth-placed parties at local level were invited, but not the third-placed Greens.