With more than 50 per cent of the vote, Vix Lowthion from the Isle of Wight Green Party, has been declared the ‘People’s Champion’ in the East Wight Primary.
East Wight Primary is a grassroots group plan to help elect a progressive MP for the new East Wight constituency at the next General Election.
Voters have spent the last three days casting their votes for the progressive candidate they feel is most likely to beat the Conservative in East Wight.
The choices given were Michael Lilley (LibDem), Vix Lowthion (Green) or Emily Brothers (Labour).
The plan now for anyone wanting to vote tactically, will be to get behind Vix Lowthion to help her defeat the Conservative candidate, Joe Robertson.
EWP: Uniting is the only way to reduce vote splitting
East Wight Primary say,
“If we don’t vote together, our split votes will let the Conservatives in again.
“Uniting is the only way to reduce vote splitting and ensure a progressive MP for East Wight.”
In response to the news, People’s Champion Vix Lowthion said,
“This is incredibly exciting news! We have got a real opportunity to bring change to Isle of Wight East and the country as a whole. To receive support from so many Islanders through the East Wight Primary is truly humbling – the hard work really starts now. We really can do this!”
The vote
976 local electors registered for the EWP vote and 879 voted. Vix won the vote with 66% of votes under the STV (single transferable vote) system. View the voting data in detail on OpaVote website.
Maureen Jones, EWP volunteer from Ventnor, said,
“Brilliant. I am delighted. I was a genuine ‘not sure’ until I went to the hustings. She was the stand out, experienced candidate- our only chance of beating the conservatives. It will still be a fight.”
EWP Co-founder, Charity Garnett, said,
“We believe that local people with knowledge of the Island and the candidates are best placed to choose our best tactical bet. If we want representation, under our current voting system we have to get together to get it, or our votes split and the Conservatives will win here. As a brand new constituency, we have a chance to do something different, and we encourage all East Wighters who would prefer not to send another Conservative to Westminster to unite behind Vix Lowthion.”
Co-Founder, Mobes O Flynn, said,
“Thank you to all our supporters for getting us this far. As well as having chosen the People’s Champion in Vix, we have also created hundreds of local champions for tactical voting. You are our greatest resource and now our work really begins! Please join our mailing list at www.eastwightprimary.org for updates on how we can get the people’s champion elected, and this time, get an MP that shares our values.”
Vix’s background
Vix has been responsible for massively increasing the Green Party vote on the Island: from 900 in 2011, when Bob Keats stood, to a whopping 9,404 when she first stood in 2015.
This figure rose again in 2017 to 12,915, but dropped in 2019 (the ‘Brexit election’) to 11,338 – despite that, it was still the third highest Green Party vote in the UK.
An A-level teacher and local councillor (previously Freshwater Parish, now Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council), Vix has been the Green Party National Education spokesperson since 2016, and shared platforms in Westminster with the likes of Angela Rayner, Layla Moran and Jeremy Corbyn.
Article edit
5.55pm 20th Jun 2024 – “Vix won the vote with 53% of first preference votes.” changed to “Vix won the vote with 66% of votes under the STV (single transferable vote) system”
