Dem Bloc’s candidate guide to the 2026 CEC elections
The Democratic Bloc is not participating in any slates and we are not running our own slate. Instead, we want as pluralistic a process as possible ahead of the CEC. That is why we have created a candidate profile list for you to read which will list members of The Democratic Bloc who are standing and candidates from outside of DemBloc who we think are good-faith and non-sectarian. We think everyone on this list is more than worthy of your consideration when you receive your ballot paper.
The ballot opens Monday 9th Feb, and will be a Single Transferable Vote election. We recommend you prioritise candidates below, many of whom are DemBloc members or have signed our pledges which you can read here
If you are a candidate and you want to sign up to the pledges, you can do so here
North East
Andy Walker
Independent, DemBloc member
(Andy has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Andy is a Your Party member based in the City of Durham. He has been a labour movement activist for more than 40 years, and is currently the secretary of the Newcastle branch of the National Union of Journalists and also a parish councillor in his local area of Langley Park. He resigned from the Labour Party in 2025 in opposition to its anti-Palestine and pro-austerity political agenda.
If elected to the CEC, Andy will bring a wide range of political and organisational skills to the leadership of Your Party, which include more than three decades working as a journalist and a communications expert in a range of national and regional third sector, not-for-profit, charitable and campaigning organisations. He will be a genuine members' representative on the CEC and will look to bring the voice of comrades in the North East region to the leadership of Your Party - a region which has a rich socialist tradition which has done so much to build our movement over many years.
Alexandra Summerson
Independent Candidate
(Alex has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Alex is a 30 year old Trade Unionist and Educator, and a Director of a non-profit CIC and a Community Music Facilitator. If elected to the CEC, she will:
Fight for Branch autonomy and appropriate funding to be allocated to Branches to support their local communities.
Support and coordinate with local groups and organisations doing good on the ground.
Ensure transparency for members.
Centralise the voices of oppressed people and ensure our party is inclusive and accessible for all.
Push for the party to adopt and follow green initiatives at all levels.
South East
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
Standing as an independent
Naomi was a leading figure in Jewish Voice for Labour (now Jewish Voice for Liberation) and was elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee only to be expelled from the party weeks later. She has been an unwavering voice of grassroots member democracy.
Hilary Schan
Standing as an independent
(Hilary has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Hilary is standing as an independent. Hilary previously sat on Momentum’s NCG as co-chair. She is widely regarded as a principled socialist who has fought for socialism as an independent councillor in her local area.
Hannah Barker
Standing as an independent
(Hannah has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
In 2024 Hannah was campaign manager for Tanushka Marah, independent socialist candidate in the General Election. Hannah was central to coordinating and galvanising local activists to deliver a 7.9% swing against Peter Kyle during Labour landslide. She chaperoned the founding of Collective Action Brighton Hove, leading workshops to collectively formulate a new non sectarian socialist group. From her time coordinating Rebel Rising South East for XR, and 2015 Brighton Climate Action Network, she brings great organising skills, stewarding robust discussion with energy and kindness, holding safe spaces for disagreement and confusion to find its way to congruity, and action.
West Midlands
Megan Clarke
Grassroots Left Slate
(Megan has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Megan Clarke is a trade union organiser, Palestine campaigner and Acorn member. She helped found the Your Party proto-branch in Warwick and Leamington and has stood in a local by-election as an affiliated independent candidate. Megan believes the party must be built from the ground up, with strong, active branches at its core. On the CEC, she is committed to ensuring branches have the funding, data and resources they need to organise effectively and maintain a real presence in their communities.
Alex Fox
Independent, DemBloc member
(Alex has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Alex is 39 years old, lives in Bromsgrove, and works as a Communications Manager for a software firm. He was a proud founding conference delegate of Your Party UK and have been committed to building this party as a genuine socialist movement from the outset. He is a socialist because he believes power should sit with the many, not the few. He is also a committed LGBTQIA+ ally. Earlier in his working life, he served as an USDAW trade union shop steward in retail, becoming one of the youngest shop stewards at the time. That experience taught him that rights are never given freely, they are organised for, and that democratic accountability must be fought for and defended.
East Midlands
Anwarul Khan
Grassroots Left Slate
(Anwarul has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Anwarul believes in a party that is decentralised. Decisions are made at branch level with direct connections to other branches to discussion issues beyond the local. The CEC although would be a face at the national level, their main role would be to amplify the voices of the membership and not coopt it. This is not something he pays lip service to as he has built a network that now covers 37% plus constituencies where reps from Proto-branches meet every week. Empowerment is not platitudes its actions.
London
Kadira Pethiyagoda
Independent, DemBloc member
(Kadira has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Dr Kadira Pethiyagoda has advocated economic justice as a parliamentary candidate and peace through his work in diplomacy, policy, law and academia. At a time of historic crisis in capitalism, Kadira believes the CEC – as collective leadership – should be able to understand and publicly defend Conference’s policy choices (in addition to championing internal democracy).
Kadira shaped policy in roles advising MPs and Ministers in Australia and the UK, and served as a diplomat. He also advised Jeremy Corbyn’s Office as Labour Leader, on the Minister for Peace portfolio. He specializes in the electoral implications of pro-peace foreign policy and strategies for maximizing its potential. Firsthand insight into foreign policy-decision making are made allows him to propose reforms that serve the interests of the many.
Internationally, he has advised senior figures in institutions such as the International Criminal Court and in political campaigns, proposing diplomatic strategies and arguing against interventionism. He advised the UN OHCHR on its economic rights advocacy strategy. Read more about Kadira here.
Mel Mullings
Grassroots Left Slate
(Mel has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Bio to follow shortly
South West
Helen Bowers
Independent, DemBloc member
(Helen has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Helen is an Independent candidate living in rural Devon. She believes in tolerance, trust, safety, comradeship, moral responsibility and the collective drive to achieve social change. She’s an Educator, advisor and committed to political education and activism. Member of Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, UNISON. A Morning Star supporter and reader.
Helen is committed to maximising the contribution of all members, representing both Rural and Urban communities, campaigning against injustice and oppression
Joe Hall
Independent Candidate
(Joe has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Joe is a teacher living in Exeter, Devon. He hates injustice with all his heart and soul and believes that small actions count just as much as big ones in building a socialist future. He is not a member of any other political party but does belong to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the NEU and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He speaks Spanish and has spent a lot of time living in Latin America and in the Middle East. He has taken part in several projects in Palestine and was one the founders of Project Hope in the West Bank. Closer to home he wants a working class led Your Party with significant structural designs to prevent capture by any political class detached from working class lived experience.
Siobhan Ovey
Independent Candidate
(Siobhan has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Siobhán Ovey is Chair of North Devon and Torridge Your Party proto branch and a Central Executive Committee candidate focused on strengthening member participation and regional representation. Raised working-class on a North Devon council estate and a former young carer, her politics are rooted in lived experience and community solidarity. She advocates accessible, transparent party structures, clearer communication, and meaningful involvement for rural branches often overlooked in national conversations. An organiser in the South West, she focuses on housing affordability, rural access to services, environmental protection and disability inclusion, and supports inclusive, member-led socialism built from the grassroots.
Stephen Bush
Independent Candidate
(Steve has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Bio to follow shortly
North West
We aren’t currently aware of any candidates that align with our positions as an organisation but if you think we should be backing someone in this region, please let us know at info@dembloc.com
Yorkshire and The Humber
Sophie Wilson
Grassroots Left slate candidate
(Sophie has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Sophie is an activist from Sheffield who has spent a lot of time in politics that happens face to face, in the hard conversations when people are angry or disappointed but still hoping something can change. She wants to give power to members and formalise branches immediately, giving access to the data you have been demanding.
Sophie served as a Labour councillor in Sheffield for five years, then resigned and sat as an Independent for another two. An elected national board member for ACORN, and has stood as a parliamentary candidate for Rother Valley. Sophie supports a democratic sovereign conference, open reporting, transparent finances, and branches that are properly resourced, including a fair share of membership fees
Chris Saltmarsh
Grassroots Left slate candidate
(Chris has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Chris has worked constructively with DemBloc on various CEC slate projects and has made principled contributions. He has led campaigns for fossil fuel divestment, taken direct action against fracking, and co-founded Labour for a Green New Deal in 2019. A former Unite rep and current UCU activist, Chris is a member of Eco-Socialist Horizon. On the CEC, he aims to help build a mass, democratic, member-led party capable of leading effective action against the climate crisis.
Johanna Boal
Independent Candidate
(Johanna has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Johanna is a retired librarian, who worked for the local council. She has collected for the local foodbank, attended anti-fracking meetings, raised awareness on our local hospital of its lack of facilitates, the lack of NHS dentist in our locality. She’s marched for the libraries, Palestine and highlighted the refugee crisis here where she lives. In 2017 she stood as the parliamentary candidate for Beverley and Holderness under Jeremy Corbyn, and came 2nd with the largest vote ever for Labour in her constituency.
Rashida Islam
Independent Candidate
(Rashida has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Martin Deane
Independent Candidate
(Martin has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
East of England
June Tobin
Independent, DemBloc member
(June has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
June has been a community activist for 40 years, from setting up breakfast clubs, to being involved in charities, youth clubs, foodbanks and community fridges. As a dedicated grassroots community activist June can offer a wealth of experience to the CEC and can offer a voice to members across the South East.
Ricardo La Torre
Grassroots Left slate
Riccardo La Torre is a lifelong trade unionist, anti-fascist and anti-war activist. He has represented firefighters and control staff at workplace, regional and national level, including five years as an Fire Brigades Union national officer, leading successful industrial action against cuts and for improved pay and conditions. Riccardo believes working-class political representation must be rooted in strong, combative trade unions. On the CEC, he is committed to building a democratic, member-led socialist party that works hand in hand with organised labour.
Scotland
Niall Christie
Independent, DemBloc member
(Niall has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Niall Christie is a journalist, trade unionist, and organiser based in Glasgow. Previously a member of the Scottish Greens, he was the party's most successful General Election candidate ever in 2024. Since joining Your Party last year he has worked with extremely dedicated volunteers who have got Your Party to this point, in Glasgow and beyond. He will work to ensure branches are set up, and to see Scotland gets access to data and money, as well as ensuring Scotland has the right to make its own decisions.
Ian Drummond
Independent, DemBloc member
(Ian has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Ian was expelled from the Labour Party after speaking up at Starmer's first conference as Leader against the bans and proscriptions that included the auto-expulsion of Ken Loach.
A socialist, anti-war and pro-Palestinian activist since the school walkouts over Iraq in 2003, he was active in left of Labour electoral parties in the Blair-Mandelson years and joined Labour to support Corbyn in 2015, becoming a leading local activist in Edinburgh Eastern CLP and an anti-witchhunt campaigner within the Party.
He is an active founding member of Edinburgh and Leith proto-branches and was involved as a supporter of the Campaign for a Mass Workers' Party in the discussions leading to the founding of YP (and was briefly disqualified and reinstated in this election when that on his statement was mistaken for dual membership).
He is running to campaign for Scotland and Wales to be immediately levelled up to at least the 2 CEC seats of each English region.
Wales
Lizzie Bailey
Independent
(Lizzie has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Lizzie is committed to fighting for socialist change. She believes our society has more than enough wealth for us all to live long, healthy and fulfilling lives, but our current political system has concentrated this wealth to a small number of individuals and this needs to change.
Your Party can help drive this change, but we need to build a party that is accountable and speaks for ordinary people. As the CEC representative for Wales, I will ensure I represent ordinary Welsh members and work to build a party that delivers change for ordinary people.
Sue Hagerty
Independent, DemBloc member
(Sue has signed our list of pledges which you can read here)
Sue is a Your Party member in Sir Gaerfyrddin, a former Labour member who resigned in despair under Keir Starmer’s leadership. She was chair of Momentum/WLG West Wales and trained members across Wales in engagement techniques.
Sue is a democracy obsessive and an experienced facilitator, determined to make sure Your Party members have the maximum input in to decision making through a variety of inclusive channels. She believes that with a diversity of voices and a culture of listening and reflecting, together we will come up with the best possible solutions to the issues we face.