Zack Polanski Wins Green Party Leadership Contest
Zack Polanski is the new leader of the Green Party (Alamy)
3 min read
Zack Polanski has won a landslide victory in the Green Party leadership contest, pledging to "work every single day to grow this party".
Polanski, 42, was previously the deputy leader of the Greens since 2022, and is also a member of the London Assembly.
He won 20,411 member votes, compared to 3,705 votes for joint contenders Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay (both Green MPs who were elected to Parliament last year). Polanski won over 80 per cent of the vote on a turnout of almost 38 per cent.
Harriet Lamb, the CEO of the Green Party, also announced that the party's membership has grown to a record of 68,500 – having increased significantly from 60,000 before the leadership contest at the start of May.
The Greens returned four MPs at the 2024 general election, but have not been able to match the surge in popularity enjoyed by Reform UK in the year since, with many Green members disappointed that the party failed to win the West of England mayoralty in May.
This leadership contest has been widely viewed as a crossroads moment for the party, with Polanski describing himself as an "eco-populist", compared to the more moderate approach taken by Chowns and Ramsay as MPs representing rural constituencies won from the Conservatives.
In July, Polanski suggested he might be willing to cooperate with the new left-wing party led by independent MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, but said that any decision would be led by party members. Ramsay and Chowns disagreed, and warned against the Greens becoming “a Jeremy Corbyn support act”.
Speaking after the result was announced on Tuesday morning, Polanski said: "Thank you to every single person who voted for me. I promise to work every single day to deliver environmental, social, racial and economic justice.
"And for those of you who didn't vote for me, this is a democracy. We don't have to agree on everything. We just have to have common cause. And I give the same commitment to you. I will work every single day to grow this party."
The new leader said that the Green Party would be there to amplify the voices of "the most marginalised and minority communities" and "take on power and wealth in this country".
"Our country has problematic history that we also need to come to terms with, but also we have a beautiful history, a beautiful present, and a beautiful future of what we are when communities come together," he continued.
"So let's have a very clear Green Party message. Our communities will always stand together."
Green councillors Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali were elected as the two deputy leaders of the party.
In a statement responding to the result, Chowns and Ramsay said: "As MPs, we are fully committed to our crucial role: holding this government to account and championing the policies needed for a fairer, greener and more liveable future.
"Together with Zack and deputy leaders Rachel Millward and Mothin Ali, we will continue to build on the extraordinary progress the Green Party has made, and take it further than ever before."
