Exclusions spark tension as Greens tighten list rules

Friday, 20 February 2026

The Green Party’s strict new process for its party list is prompting turmoil within the membership as former candidates have been excluded from potentially becoming MPs.

The changes have seen one candidate who was highly-ranked on the Green Party list at the last election and another who was endorsed for a local body race excluded from the pool for the party list at this year’s election.

The exclusions have led to some disquiet within the membership, particularly as some feel the reasons given are spurious.

One member who quit the party over the matter told The Post the excluded were being “punished”.

“The candidates declined are interesting, nuanced, staunch, values-driven people who connect with voters. It looks like they've been punished for standing up for their values and not playing respectability games.”

Another member who declined to be named told The Post the new rules would lead to “a very James Shaw party list” and said the new process would have excluded former party stalwarts like Sue Bradford and Nándor Tánczos

The party has finalised the pool of list candidates for the election, ahead of a meeting this weekend where different party delegates vote on how to rank the list. The wider membership is then given a chance to vote on their own ranking of this list.

Getting into the pool itself does not guarantee a place in Parliament as the party can only expect to win around 12 MPs on current polling, yet will put forward a list of several dozen. But the last term has shown that even a fairly low list place can get an MP into Parliament with enough departures - new Green MP Mike Davidson was number 19 on the list but entered the House when Benjamin Doyle decided to step down.

There is concern from some in the left-wing membership that the new rules will lead to a safe version of the party embodied in former co-leader Shaw.

The process, whereby an executive panel is able to exclude MPs from the party list pool, was brought in following the Green Party’s torrid experience with MP Darleen Tana earlier in the term.

Tana was elected as a Green list MP in 2023 but was eventually forced out of the party following an investigation into allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s company.

The list-making process also comes in the wake of the resignation of Green MP Doyle, who left after receiving sustained death threats over a social media post.

Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick told The Post the new rules were designed to protect both the party and candidates.

“The focus here was making sure that our candidates were ready to be members of Parliament ready to contribute in a Green government,” Swarbrick said.

Candidates needed to be ready not just to serve as ministers, but to have support networks in place for what would inevitably be a huge amount of online hate and the “awful workplace” of Parliament.

“It is really important to us that people are supported and ready to go in every sense of the word. The environment of politics is gruelling and full noise. …We have seen immense pressure placed on individual people. It’s an incredibly toxic and awful workplace.”

Swarbrick said as a co-leader she was at arm’s length from the exclusion process, which was carried out by the party’s executive ,and only the candidates themselves were told the reasons for their exclusion.

She said the party would be putting forward an incredibly diverse and strong list of candidates.

“It will be among our stronger and most diverse cohort of candidates.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article suggested that Celia Wade Brown had left Parliament. She has not, but is retiring at the election.