Rushanara Ali former aid to Oona King has just been selected to be the Labour Party Candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow in the next general election. Commiserations to the other 5 shortlisted candidates (I am sure that we have not seen the last of them). However, Rushanara was the clear winner in tonight's ballot. Well done. I'm looking forward to getting rid of diss-Respect at the next election.UPDATE: From Tower Hamlets Labour group web site : -
Bethnal Green and Bow Labour Party unites around Rushanara Ali, Bethnal Green & Bow's diverse Labour Party membership has confounded expectations ,by selecting a female Bangladeshi candidate to stand for the constituency in the next general election.
Rushanara Ali is only one of four women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years. If successful at the next General Election Rushanara Ali is likely to be the first Bangladeshi woman to ever be elected to Parliament.
Rushanara Ali said: "I am proud to come from the East End, and I am proud to have received so much support from right across the community and thank everyone for their support. The East End is a special place, full of un-tapped talent. I am looking forward to working with everyone to win this seat back for Labour." "Iraq was clearly a major issue in the last election and like many in this community, I also opposed the war and marched against it with many loyal Labour supporters. Now, we need to focus on the bread and butter issues which people are worried about here at home, which are housing, jobs and education. I will be working with everyone this community to campaign on these issues, and working hard to unite our community."
For more information please contact Karin Christiansen 07816839533 or email rushanara.ali@googlemail.com There are currently only 2 female ethnic minority MPs in Parliament. Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Diane Abbot (Hackney North & Stoke Newington). They are both Labour MPs Apart from Rushanara Ali, the other three women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years are Madeleine Moon (Bridgend), Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Katy Clark (Ayrshire North & Arran)
9 comments:
Hi John, what were the exact figures? Did she win on the first ballot?
Yes, I understand that she was the winner at all stages of the vote (single transfer preference thingy)
Weird!
Not sure I follow ... Caroline's question is asking whether RA won outright without any transfers. But sounds like several rounds ensued?
Hi Caroline
Why weird? She was always one of the favourites?
Hi Chris
What happened is the ballot closed at 5pm then at 5.30pm the first preference votes were counted. Rushanara came top. Then the bottom candidate was eliminated and their 2nd preference votes allocated and so on..Rushanara was still first after every elimination (I think I have got this right).
She led by a handful in the first round then gained more 2nd and third preferences, it went down to a fith round mind.
She started with 132 and ended with 185, her nearest rival, Lutfur Rahman only increased his initial 91 by 40 to finish at 131.
It was clear that Lutfur's supporters were only voting for him as many of them arrived clutching a piece of paper with his name written on it.
Unfortunately for him, appealing exclusively to one section of the members - overwhelmingly male, and bangladeshi, was not sufficient to win.
Even if there had been only one male bangladeshi candidate, if all Lutfur and Abbas's votes are added together, the total is still less than Rushanara's (althought it is possible that a second white candidate might have attracted some of her votes). It's interesting to speculate.
However the fact is that Abbas and Lutfur cancelled each other out, despite over 100 of their supporters mobbing around the party rooms all day like a load of restaurant touts(despite express instructions agent Clark not to do this).
From Tower Hamlets Labour group web site http://www.towerhamletslabour.org.uk/?PageId=a905d6c4-ebf9-ce94-c110-320b85bbf530: -
Bethnal Green and Bow Labour Party unites around Rushanara Ali
Bethnal Green & Bow's diverse Labour Party membership has confounded expectations by selecting a female Bangladeshi candidate to stand for the constituency in the next general election. Rushanara Ali is only one of four women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years.
If successful at the next General Election Rushanara Ali is likely to be the first Bangladeshi woman to ever be elected to Parliament.
Rushanara Ali said:
"I am proud to come from the East End, and I am proud to have received so much support from right across the community and thank everyone for their support. The East End is a special place, full of un-tapped talent. I am looking forward to working with everyone to win this seat back for Labour."
"Iraq was clearly a major issue in the last election and like many in this community, I also opposed the war and marched against it with many loyal Labour supporters. Now, we need to focus on the bread and butter issues which people are worried about here at home, which are housing, jobs and education. I will be working with everyone this community to campaign on these issues, and working hard to unite our community."
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
For more information please contact Karin Christiansen 07816839533 or email rushanara.ali@googlemail.com
There are currently only 2 female ethnic minority MPs in Parliament. Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Diane Abbot (Hackney North & Stoke Newington). They are both Labour MPs
Apart from Rushanara Ali, the other three women to be selected through open Labour Party contests in winnable seats in the last five years are Madeleine Moon (Bridgend), Dawn Butler (Brent South), and Katy Clark (Ayrshire North & Arran)
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