Green Party leader Zack Polanski to stand in by-election for Starmer’s seat

Zack Polanski announces candidacy for the Holborn and St Pancras seat to be vacated by British ex-PM Keir Starmer.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski speaking during a press conference at Church House in central London. [File: Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images]

The leader of the United Kingdom’s Green Party intends to stand in an election for a seat in parliament vacated by former Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, local media reported.

Zack Polanski told the Camden New Journal he would be the Green candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, a left-leaning constituency which Starmer held comfortably in 2024 though with a much-reduced vote share.

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“I have lived and worked in this community over many years. I know it well, and I love it,” the left-wing party leader said.

“It represents so many of the things that make London so special. I am so excited by the prospect of representing this place in Parliament.”

The announcement comes days after former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would stand down as a member of parliament, triggering a by-election.

‘Labour stands up for corporations’

Starmer said on Tuesday that it was the “right time” to resign as the MP for the Holborn and St Pancras seat in London after 11 years.

The announcement comes six weeks after his resignation as the UK’s prime minister, having lost the support of governing Labour Party MPs.

In the UK’s general election two years ago, an independent candidate who campaigned primarily on opposition to Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza took nearly 19 percent of the vote in the Holborn and St Pancras constituency, while a Green candidate received more than 10 percent.

“Labour stands up for corporations and big money,” Polanski wrote on X.

“I’ll stand up for people and our communities.”

Since Polanski became Green leader a year ago, the party has achieved some success in taking support from Labour’s left, winning a surprise by-election victory in Greater Manchester – where current Prime Minister Andy Burnham was a long-serving mayor – and nationally polling as high as 20 percent.

However, Polanski’s personal popularity took a hit after he criticised police officers for the way they arrested a man who allegedly stabbed two Jewish people in north London in April, according to pollsters YouGov.

扎克·波兰斯基宣布竞选霍尔本和圣潘克拉斯选区议席，该议席将由英国前首相基尔·斯塔默空出。

绿党领袖扎克·波兰斯基在伦敦市中心教堂大厦举行的新闻发布会上发表讲话。[图片：Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images]

据当地媒体报道，英国绿党领袖打算参加议会选举，竞选前工党首相基尔·斯塔默空出的议席。

扎克·波兰斯基告诉《卡姆登新日报》，他将成为绿党在霍尔本和圣潘克拉斯选区的候选人。该选区倾向左翼，斯塔默在 2024 年轻松赢得了该选区，尽管得票率大幅下降。

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“我多年来一直生活和工作在这个社区。我非常了解这里，我热爱这里，”这位左翼政党领导人说道。

“它代表了伦敦的诸多独特之处。我非常激动能够代表这个地方进入议会。”

就在几天前，英国前首相基尔·斯塔默宣布将辞去议员职务，引发补选。

“工党支持企业”

斯塔默周二表示，在担任伦敦霍尔本和圣潘克拉斯选区议员 11 年后，现在是辞去该职位的“合适时机”。

该声明发布于他辞去英国首相职务六周后，此前他失去了执政的工党议员的支持。

两年前的英国大选中，一位主要以反对以色列对加沙巴勒斯坦人发动种族灭绝战争为竞选纲领的独立候选人在霍尔本和圣潘克拉斯选区获得了近 19% 的选票，而一位绿党候选人获得了超过 10% 的选票。

波兰斯基在 X 上写道：“劳工组织维护的是企业和大资本的利益。”

“我会挺身而出，维护人民和我们社区的利益。”

自波兰斯基一年前成为绿党领袖以来，该党在争取工党左翼的支持方面取得了一些成功，在大曼彻斯特地区（现任首相安迪·伯纳姆曾长期担任该地区市长）的补选中意外获胜，并在全国民调中获得了高达 20% 的支持率。

然而，据民调机构 YouGov 的数据显示，波兰斯基批评警方逮捕一名涉嫌于 4 月在伦敦北部刺伤两名犹太人的男子的方式后，他的个人声望受到了打击。