Why did Animals Count contest the Eastern region in the 2009 European Parliament (EP) elections?
In March 2009, the Green Party leaders requested a meeting with the Animals Count leaders. Discussions were wide-ranging and positive. However, the Greens requested us not to contest the Southeast (where Caroline Lucas is MEP), London (where Jean Lambert is MEP), the East and the Northwest regions; their four key targets. We had already decided not to compete against Caroline Lucas, as we appreciate her excellent work for animals in the European Parliament to date. Our calculations showed that we would not be a threat to Jean Lambert’s seat in London, but nevertheless on this occasion we decided to honour their request not to stand in London on 4th June. On 7th June, the election results for London demonstrated that Jean Lambert had received in excess of 72,000 more votes than required for a seat. Our calculations had been correct: Animals Count would not have been a threat to the Green Party in London, had we chosen to stand there. Examination of public policy statements revealed no m
