Election

The Evangelical Alliance keeps a watching brief on all election activity in the UK. Regional, National and European. At Election time we produce topical political briefing material and a website to keep our members and supporters informed about the key issues of the day.

The next major elections scheduled to take place are the Local Elections in May 2008. The date of the local government elections in England (including the London Mayoral and GLA) and Wales is 1st May 2008.

Helpful links regarding all things electoral:

The Electoral Commissionis an independent body set up by the UK Parliament in 2000 to oversee electoral matters. www.electoralcommission.gov.uk

London Electsis the neutral body responsible for organising the London Mayoral elections.Youcanalsoregistertovoteontheirwebsite.www.londonelects.org.uk

London Election 2008

As I am sure you are aware from all the intense press coverage and debate, the London Mayoral election is taking place on Thursday 1 May, 2008.

At the last London Mayoral election in 2004 the Evangelical Alliance in partnership with London Churches hosted a series of focus groups, published a booklet outlining the key political issues facing London, and hosted an election Husting with the main candidates: Ken Livingstone The Labour Party Candidate; Ram Gidoomal from the Christian Peoples Alliance; Steve Norris of the Conservative Party; Simon Hughes from Liberal Democrats and Darren Johnson, Green Party Candidate.

The booklet, Faith, Work and City can still be obtained in hard copy from the public affairs team at the Evangelical Alliance. Please e-mail your requests to pub-aff@eauk.org or download it as a PDF.

This year the Mayoral Hustings event sponsored by the Evangelical Alliance, in partnership with Premier Christian Radio, and supported by London Churches, is being kindly hosted by St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square on Wednesday 23 April, 6-8pm. Doors open at 5pm. The candidates from the same five parties that were invited in 2004 have been asked to attend this years event.

At the beginning of the Hustings each candidate will be invited to make an opening statement on what they think makes a good city. (This was a key question for the Commission on Urban Life and Faith in its report in May 2006, Faithful Cities, which covers many of the issues of concern to churches in London.)

Attendees will then get the opportunity to ask the Mayoral candidates their questions. This could be the only time in four years that you will be able to put your question to your future Mayor.

There will be no charge for this event, but seats are limited so please come early to avoid disappointment.

Please also show your support by inviting yourself and your friends on the hustings Facebook group.

If you have any queries please contact the Evangelical Alliance on 0207 207 2129 or e-mail me at g.walllace@eauk.org.

For more information on St Martin-in-the-Fields please log unto www.smitf.org

For more information on Premier Christian Radio please visit www.premier.org.uk

The London Churches group can be found at www.londonchurchesgroup.org.uk

A PDF of our Hustings flyer can be downloaded at www.votelondon.org.uk