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.
We would recommend that you consider using at least one of your two nominations to support a DemBloc member so that the final ballot paper has the best chance of representing as many views as possible. There is always a risk with elections that slates can dominate and independent candidates lose out.
If you would like DemBloc to include you in our guide, please contact us at info@dembloc.com and we can arrange an interview where we consider if you align with our organisation’s values. If our working group feels that you do, we will share your candidacy in our guide.
Dem Bloc’s guide to the 2026 CEC elections
North East
Andy Walker
DemBloc member seeking support!
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.
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.
Phil Clarke
DemBloc member seeking support!
Biography coming soon…
South East
Hilary Schan
Standing as an independent
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.
West Midlands
Alex Fox
DemBloc member seeking support!
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.
Felix Ling
DemBloc member seeking support!
Biography coming soon…
Callum Salfield
DemBloc member seeking support!
Biography coming soon…
East Midlands
London
Kadira Pethiyagoda
DemBloc member seeking support!
Dr Kadira Pethiyagoda has advocated economic justice as a parliamentary candidate and peace through his work in diplomacy, policy, law and academia.
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.
Richard Hall
DemBloc member seeking support!
Biography coming soon…
South West
North West
David O’Keefe
DemBloc member seeking support!
Biography coming soon…
Stefan Cholewka
DemBloc member seeking support!
Stefan is Rochdale trades council secretary and is involved in several community groups including Building Local Democracy. He was previously Greater Manchester TUC’s secretary, a position he occupied for 14 years. He was also previously the regional Cooperative Party secretary.
Yorkshire
Chris Saltmarsh
Grassroots Left slate candidate
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.
East of England
June Tobin
DemBloc member seeking support!
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.
Robin de Brea
DemBloc member seeking support!
Robin is 75, married, father of two children, one of whom is highly and complexly disabled. I'm a Unite member, President of Lowestoft Trades Council, previously Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) shop steward for artic drivers at Boulton and Paul and later TGWU branch chairman at Thamesway bus garage at Ponders End.
Robin’s personal primary objective on the CEC is to develop an educational programme for the membership and beyond, which will assist our movement in understanding the nature of capitalism and the way to devise and implement the alternative we so desperately require.
Robin lives in Lowestoft, in Suffolk, and his primary focus at the moment is a local campaign to construct a tidal barrier that will prevent Lowestoft from becoming the first town in England to be abandoned due to rising tidal levels brought about by human-made climate change.
James Bower
DemBloc member seeking support!
James was formerly a Labour Party campaigns organiser, MP staffer and branch secretary and previously worked as a Momentum organiser in Southwark. He has lots of experience as an elections organising and organising for selections.
Ricardo La Torre
Grassroots Left slate candidate
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.