Green leader Zack Polanski vows to stay after byelection loss

Green Party leader Zack Polanski has vowed to remain in his post after losing the Holborn and St Pancras parliamentary byelection, RTÉ reported. Labour candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali won the north London seat, which was previously held by former prime minister Keir Starmer, according to RTÉ and the Guardian. As FTMQ News reported earlier, Abdi-Wali received 12,292 votes while Polanski finished in second place with 8,928 votes. [1][2][3][6][7][13][15][16]

Pressure on Polanski has grown following the election defeat and internal party disputes, the Guardian and RTÉ reported. The Green Party conference recently passed a motion declaring that Zionism is racism, triggering further fallout and prompting the head of the Jewish Greens to state that Polanski must step down, according to RTÉ and the Independent. [1][3][8]

The byelection in Holborn and St Pancras, a parliamentary constituency in central London, was called after Starmer resigned from Parliament on 1 September 2026. Prior to the defeat, the Greens won the Gorton and Denton seat in February 2026, when Hannah Spencer was elected as a Green Member of Parliament. [1][12][13]

Polanski faced questions regarding his leadership from senior colleagues even before the vote was finalized, RTÉ reported. Recent opinion polls show that Polanski has become less popular than Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, according to the Guardian. [1][3]