Candidates announced for Hackney Downs and Stoke Newington byelections

Hackney Town Hall: Two seats up for grabs on 5 May

A total of nine candidates have thrown their hats in to the ring in their bids to become Hackney councillors.

Two byelections, both scheduled for 5 May, were triggered when two Labour party councillors, Rick Muir in Hackney Downs, and Louisa Thomson in Stoke Newington Central, stood down last month.

Nominations closed at 4pm yesterday and the candidates for each ward were declared.

Contesting Hackney Downs for Labour is Sem Moema, who has worked for a large housing association for over four years.

She previously served as a councillor in Hackney Downs ward from 2006 until 2010.

Nicola Benjamin, a former Labour party activist, is standing for the Conservatives.

The Green candidate for Hackney Downs is filmmaker and youth worker Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, whilst the Liberal Democrats have put forward local plumber Mohammed Sadiq, who ran for the seat in 2014.

Contesting the Stoke Newington seat for Labour is Patrick Moule, a national organiser for a trade union.

Former councillor Christopher Sills is once again running for the Conservatives.

The Liberal Democrats have nominated writer and filmmaker Victor de Almeida for the Stoke Newington race.

The Green party’s Halita Obineche is also on the ballot. Ms Obineche is a charity fundraiser who has worked for St Joseph’s Hospice and Community Links.

A fifth candidate, Mick Cotter, is also contesting the Stoke Newington seat, for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.