Unlike Fine Gael, which employs a “college” system where the parliamentary party holds a significant sway in the leadership selection, the Green Party entrusts this decision completely to its members. As a result of the so-called ‘green wave’, the party’s membership rose above 3,000 across both the Republic and Northern Ireland due to its one-island policy, which allows all members from Northern Ireland the right to vote.
The party’s constitution mandates that a leadership contest must be held within six months of a general election, only if the leadership is contested. This occurred in 2020 when Catherine Martin, the deputy leader, questioned Eamon Ryan’s leadership, despite the party having its most successful general election to date.
Though a hefty majority of the parliamentary party stood by Ryan, in an unexpected outcome, Martin came within a mere 49 votes of replacing Ryan, scoring 946 to his 994 votes. Martin’s candidacy appealed to the younger party members, Northern Greens, those who opposed joining the Coalition, and the party’s left-leaning social justice activists. Some of these factions went on to leave the party following this contest.
The national executive had a meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss the contest’s format, which could be two or three week long campaign with hustings in different places. The Green Party uses a Modified Borda count system, where voters list their preferences if there are more than three candidates. All these preferences are added up and the candidate with the lowest score wins.
A simple majority vote is needed if there are only two candidates. Currently, only Integration Minister Roderic O’Gorman and Senator Pippa Hackett have declared their candidacy, as of Wednesday night.