Dalston by-election: Greens win by-election triggered by Zoë Garbett’s mayoral victory

The Green Party has won a by-election in Hackney triggered by Zoë Garbett’s recent mayoral victory at the May local elections.

Candidate Manal Massalha will represent Dalston ward for the party after winning 549 votes (57.7%) at the poll held on Thursday, June 25. The seat was previously held by Mayor Garbett, who was constitutionally unable to take office as councillor because she was also elected Mayor at the local elections in May, when her party overturned Labour’s supermajority in a historic first for the borough.

Accepting victory, Cllr Massalha said she partly owed her campaign victory to Mayor Garbett and fellow Dalston councillor Rachel Nkiessu-Guifo. “I’ve been elected thanks to the legacy of two amazing women. But those two women are part of a bigger group of volunteers and party members whose commitment has been so inspiring to see,” she said.

“People are tired. They’re tired of the status quo, of politicians not delivering on their promises. They’re tired of a global climate of impunity, of unaccountability. What the Green Party is proposing is actually change and a party of the many, not the few.”

A Hackney resident, ethnographer and documentary photographer, Ms Massalha is a self-described advocate for housing rights, safer, greener streets, local traders and community spaces.

Labour’s candidate Grace Adebayo came in second place with 342 votes (36%). Reform’s Ivon Fleming came third, with 26 votes (2.7%). For the Liberal Democrats, Peter Munro gained fourth place with 24 votes (2.5%). The Conservatives’ Jerry Sulaiman came last with 10 votes (1.05%).

Turnout for the election was 13.81%. Various candidates, party officials and council officers told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they suspected turnout was depressed due to the heatwave, which saw the UK record its hottest-ever June temperature on Thursday, peaking at 35.8C in the capital.

Along with the results of the Hackney Central ward by-election held simultaneously on Thursday, the result fortifies the Greens’ huge majority on the council where the party now holds 42 seats compared to Labour’s nine and the Conservatives’ six.

The Labour Group said its candidates for both races would “continue the fight for the party’s values” in Hackney.

Speaking to the LDRS, Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Leader of the Labour Opposition, said: “Thank you to all those who voted Labour on what was the hottest day of the year. We came close to winning in Hackney Central ward which shows that there is a significant number of people in Hackney Central who would like to see a Labour councillor elected.

“It was a well fought campaign and the vote in both wards indicates that people are moving back to Labour and its values – as is being seen in other parts of London,” she said.