The 2020 Green Party leadership election was a leadership election within Ireland's

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

. The election was won by

Eamon Ryan Eamon Michael Ryan (born 28 July 1963) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Minister for Transport since June 2020 and Leader of the Green Party since May 2011. He ha ...

who received 51% of the votes cast and retained his position as leader.

Background

The constitution of the Green Party mandates there must always be a leadership contest within the party within six months of a general election. The

2020 Irish general election The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday 8 February, to elect the 33rd Dáil, the lower house of Ireland's parliament. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the president, at the request of the Ta ...

triggered this election. Eamon Ryan and Catherine Martin have been Leader and Deputy Leader of the Green party, respectively, since 2011. Ryan was credited with rebuilding the Green Party after it lost all representation in the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...

in 2011. Ryan and Martin were the first two Greens to win back seats as Teachtai Dála at the

2016 Irish general election The 2016 Irish general election took place on Friday 26 February to elect 158 Teachtaí Dála (TDs) across 40 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's parliament. The 31st Dáil was dissolved by Preside ...

and in the 2020 Irish general election, the party had its best result ever when it secured 12 seats. In the prelude to the leadership contest were the government formation talks between

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christian- ...

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

and the Green Party as they put together the

Government of the 33rd Dáil There were two Governments of the 33rd Dáil, which was formed on 27 June 2020, following negotiations on a programme for government for a coalition government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party that followed the 2020 general elect ...

. Catherine Martin served as the Green's lead negotiator in those talks and was considered to have stood firm for the Greens' demands.

Procedure

Candidates must receive 50 nominations by party members. All members of the party have a vote, provided they have been a paid-up party member, including members from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Postal ballot papers were sent to Green party members on 1 July and the closing date for returning votes was 22 July. The results were announced on 23 July 2020.

Candidates

Within the Green Party, Martin's candidacy was seen to represent the views of younger, more radical Green Party members who did not wish to enter into coalition with

, in contrast to the leadership of Eamon Ryan which was seen to represent the moderate "old guard" who are open to working with those parties. There was also the view amongst some Green Party members that Martin would be a sterner, more hardnosed leader than the more relaxed and approachable Ryan, and that Martin's more aggressive approach would be needed to safeguard the party against Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil backsliding on promises to them. Supporters of Ryan argued that his warm manner is what helped him build relations both inside and outside of the party, and this would be important in holding the three parties together in government as well as settling the party down after divisive issues such as entering government and the leadership contest itself.

Debates

4 internal debates were held over the course of election. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the debates were held online via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

conferences. One debate was held for each of the Republic of Ireland's

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

constituencies, and a fourth debate for members from

. Over the course of debates, Ryan generally presented himself as the experienced and dependable choice while Martin presented herself as more able to communicate with rural Ireland and build the party's support there, as well as stressing the importance of pursuing

Social Justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

. Both candidates stressed they did not want the contest to divide the party, and regardless of who won, the leader would need to heal any wounds within the party and rebuild the party's cohesiveness.

Result

Eamon Ryan was declared the victor on 23 July 2020. The contest was considered to be have been especially close, with only 48 votes separating the two candidates. Ryan acknowledged this, stating "It is a really close result. The numbers could have gone either way". Ryan declared his intention going forward was to "help this party and our country and our people through this remarkably challenging period." Martin thanked her supporters and stated her belief that Ryan would be able to reunite and rebuild the party following months of tension caused by the government formation talks and the leadership contest. Ryan thanked Martin for conducting a civil contest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Party (Ireland) Leadership Election, 2020 2020 elections in the Republic of Ireland 2020 in Irish politics Green Party (Ireland) Political party leadership elections in the Republic of Ireland Green Party leadership election (Ireland)