Jeremy Corbyn to be Your Party’s parliamentary leader as Zarah Sultana loses out
Jeremy Corbyn’s faction has emerged victorious in Your Party’s first leadership election following a contest marred by months of public infighting, confusion and indecision.
The decisive result will now see Mr Corbyn become the group’s parliamentary leader.
In response, the former Labour leader said he wanted his “mass, socialist party” to take the fight to his successor Sir Keir Starmer and the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Late last year the left-wing party opted to elect a 24-strong central executive committee (CEC) rather than a single figure to lead the party.
But the contest has been seen as a proxy-war between its two co-founders, with both Mr Corbyn and Zarah Sultana putting forward two rival slates of candidates.
They both also stood for election to the CEC’s ‘public office holders’ section, a prerequisite to becoming the party’s parliamentary leader.
On Thursday morning, the party revealed Mr Corbyn’s group, called ‘The Many’, had won the contest and would now lead the party.
The group, which also includes MPs Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan, beat Ms Sultana’s slate “Grassroots Left” by 14 seats to seven, giving his supporters control of the CEC.
Some 25,347 people voted in the election out of 40,985 verified Your Party members, a turnout of 61.8%.
M Corbyn is now set to become Your Party’s Parliamentary leader, leading the group in Westminster, a position in which Ms Sultana had also expressed interest.
The foundation of Your Party has been marked by conflict between the pair, including over the announcement of the new party’s creation and the “unauthorised” launch of a membership portal.
Ms Sultana boycotted the first day of Your Party’s founding conference in Liverpool over the exclusion of some of her supporters and the expulsion of members of the Socialist Workers Party.
But the conference’s backing of a collective membership model was widely seen as a victory for Ms Sultana while Mr Corbyn had preferred having a single leader.
After the result was announced Jeremy Corbyn said: “I am delighted that members have voted for a mass, socialist party that takes the fight to Starmer and Farage.
“Now, the real work begins. We have a precious opportunity to unite our movement around a bold vision for this country — one that creates a more caring, equal and peaceful world for all. I look forward to working with all members to make this vision a reality.”
He added that the UK was “at a dangerous moment. The fear, divisiveness and racism of Reform should not be appeased. It must be opposed. There is only one way we will defeat them: by working together under a common cause of redistribution and peace.”
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