Following the rule change agreed at the Society AGM in 2022, the NEC will have 24 voting members from June 2023.  These are set out below.

For detailed guidance on who can seek election in each seat, see the NEC Election 2023 – Guidance for Candidates.

Elected by and from individual members by one member, one vote.

For these seats, the election in 2023 will be open to any member who meets the criteria.  For future elections, if a seat was held by a man, at the election following his retirement or ineligibility to seek re-election, that election will only be open to women.

Elected by and from individual members in four sections, two per section.

The sections are:

• England East and London: members in the East and London regions
• England Midlands: members in the East Midlands and West Midlands regions
• England North: members in the North East & Cumbria, North West and Yorkshire & Humber regions
• England South: members in the South East and South West regions.

Individual members in each section will each have two votes. The woman with the highest number of votes will be elected and the second seat will go to candidate with the highest votes who is from a different region. If there are no candidates from another region, the candidate with the next highest number of votes will be elected.

If none of the candidates in a section are women, one seat will remain vacant pending a by-election open only to female candidates.

These are elected by and from individual members of each network.

For these seats, the election in 2023 will be open to any member who meets the criteria.  For future elections, if a seat was held by a man, at the election following his retirement or ineligibility to seek re-election, that election will only be open to women.

Elected by individual members aged 30 and under. Candidates must be under 27 at the date of nomination.

As this is not a new seat, the NEC has determined that for 2023, the existing rules will continue for the Youth representative i.e., if the 2020-23 NEC member retires or is not eligible to seek re-election in 2023, the election for this seat will be open to women only.

The current member has confirmed that he will not be seeking re-election, so for this election this seat will only be open to women candidates.

At least one to be a woman.

At least one to be a woman.

For this seat, the election in 2023 will be open to any member who meets the criteria.  For future elections, if a seat was held by a man, at the election following his retirement or ineligibility to seek re-election, that election will only be open to women.

At least one to be a woman. These are appointed by the Westminster Co-operative Parliamentary Group.

This election is open to all current Labour and Co-operative Members of the Scottish Parliament, Senedd, London Assembly, Police & Crime Commissioners, Elected Mayors or Councillors who stood as ‘Labour and Co-operative’ at their most recent election or were endorsed by their local Co-operative Party as co-operative candidates.

Labour and Co-operative MSP, MS, AM, PCC, elected mayors and councillors will have two votes. The woman with the highest number of votes will be elected.  The second seat will go to the candidate with the next highest votes.

If none of the candidates in a section are women, one seat will remain vacant pending a by-election open only to female candidates.

The fifteen individual members’ places, together with the two seats for elected representatives, are open for self-nomination.

Additionally, for the twelve national and regional places, party councils and branches will also be invited to submit up to two supporting nominations.

See above for key dates when you should arrange your supporting nomination meetings.

National, Regional, BAME, (dis)Ability, LGBTQ+, Youth, Elected Representative

For this election, we are inviting members to self-nominate for the national, regional, BAME, (dis)Ability, LGBTQ+, Youth and elected representative places.

Self-nominations will open 12 December 2022 for elections to the NEC for 2023-26.  The closing date is 12 noon on 5 February 2022. 

Nominations must be submitted via the Civica website.

Co-operative Group, other Retail Societies, other affiliates

Information and forms will be sent to Societies and other affiliates in December. To seek election to the NEC as one of the representatives of the Co-operative Group, other retail Society or affiliate, members should contact the Secretary of the relevant organisation to request a nomination.

The closing date for nominations for these seats is 12 March 2023.

Following close of self-nominations, there will be an on-line hustings, open to all members eligible to vote in that section.  These will be organised centrally and zoom registration details will be sent to all eligible members in January.

After the closing date, valid nominations will be forwarded to party councils and branches in the relevant nations or sections to enable them to submit supporting nominations.

Each party council and branch may make up to two supporting nominations, at least one of which must be for a woman. If there are no female candidates, the branch or party may nominate one man only.

Valid supporting nominations must be made at a quorate meeting to which all eligible members have been invited.  Information in support of the candidates will be available on the Party’s website and no other materials should be circulated.

Candidates should not attend supporting nomination meetings.  The exception to this is a candidates’ own branch, where they may speak and vote.

Ideally, you should schedule your party council or branch meeting to take place after the hustings for your nation or region, when members will have had a chance to hear the candidates speak and submit questions.

Key dates: the closing date for submitting supporting nominations is 12 March. 

The election for the fifteen places elected by individual members is being conducted by Civica. Links to vote will be emailed to members and will take place on line.  Members who do not have an email address will be sent a postal vote but will be encouraged to vote on line if they can.

To be eligible to vote, members must be current, not lapsed, and have applied to join the Party on or before 26 November 2022.

Although candidates may only seek election to one seat, members may vote in as many sections as they are qualified to e.g. a councillor aged 30 or under will receive a link to vote for their regional section, the elected members’ section, the youth member and for any networks they are a member of.

The ballot will open on 3 April 2023 and close on 5 May 2023.