Labor fends off Green Party in closely watched UK by-election | Israeli-Palestinian conflict News

Sagal Abdi-Wali, who arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Somalia, won 3,300 votes more than Greens leader Zack Polanski.

Labor won the election for a parliamentary seat vacated by former leader Keir Starmer, fending off a challenge from the left-wing Green Party, giving a boost to the British prime minister.

Labor candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali, leader of the local council, won the seat in the central London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras with 12,292 votes, compared to 8,928 for Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, who came second.

The victory, which was expected, will encourage Prime Minister Andy Burnham, recently appointed by lawmakers fearing that Starmer’s unpopularity could pave the way for a challenge from the populist Reform UK party in the next national election.

After losing support from the left to the Greens earlier this year, Labor appears to have won back many voters, a result that has prompted more questions about Polanski’s leadership.

There are now five Green deputies, compared to one in 2023.

But Polanski, 43, recently came under fire after party members passed a motion declaring Zionism is racism at their annual conference.

The move, which called for “the establishment of a single democratic Palestinian state throughout historic Palestine,” was criticized by Jewish groups, other parties and most Green Party lawmakers. Polanski did not vote on the motion.

Labor has occupied Holborn since the seat was created in 1983.

Labour’s Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK as a child refugee from Somalia, said her victory was a defeat for “those who seek to divide us”.

“We have a responsibility to defend what we have built and pass it on,” she said.

After conceding defeat, Polanski, who is not an MP, responded to his critics, saying he would remain leader, and described the result as part of “Andy Burnham’s honeymoon”.

Polanski congratulated Abdi-Wali, but said: “One in three voters supported us here, and we know many more have considered it. »

Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego, reporting from London, said: “The constituency has gone through what some have called ‘the Burnham bounce’… so far there is a deep sigh of relief (among Labor) that they have managed to hold on.” »

Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza has changed voting habits over the past three years. The Greens, far more critical of Israel’s behavior than any other party, got a boost in the 2024 general election.

At the time, Starmer won the seat with 49 per cent. Andrew Feinstein, a pro-Palestinian independent candidate, came in second, with 19 percent.

Polanski increased the “progressive vote” while “reducing the Labor vote,” Feinstein said.