Zack Polanski has blamed what he called a “council c***up” after Our News Outlet established that he appeared on the electoral roll under two separate names.
The Green Party leader and prospective MP was listed twice on an official electoral register in 2020 and 2021, with both entries recorded as eligible to vote.
Green Party representatives said the duplication was the result of an administrative mistake by Westminster Council, stressing that Mr Polanski had never cast two ballots.
The electoral register anomaly emerged as the outspoken Green leader was selected to fight Labour for Sir Keir Starmer’s former seat in the House of Commons.
Mr Polanski was confirmed as the Green Party candidate for the Holborn and St Pancras by-election on October 8 after securing overwhelming backing from local party members.
It will be the 43-year-old’s second bid to enter Parliament. During his unsuccessful 2019 campaign in Cities of London and Westminster, he stood under the name Zack Polanski while giving his home address as a flat where he was registered to vote as David Paulden, his birth name.
That created the unusual situation in which “voter David Paulden” would have been able to cast a ballot for “candidate Zack Polanski” — despite both names referring to the same individual.
There is no allegation that Mr Polanski acted improperly. The Green Party said the issue stemmed from an “overlap in electoral records” following his name change by deed poll in April 2019.
Zack Polanski appeared upbeat after Green Party members selected him as their candidate for the parliamentary by-election in Sir Keir Starmer’s former constituency
Green Party leader Zack Polanski joined supporters at King’s Place in London after being chosen to contest the Holborn and St Pancras by-election
The discrepancy seems to have continued for at least two years while Mr Polanski was registered at Latimer House, a run-down block of flats at 40 Hanson Street in Fitzrovia, central London.
Our News Outlet examined the electoral registers for the address, which are not publicly accessible but can be consulted under restricted conditions in the British Library archives.
They show that, in 2020, the names Zack Polanski and David Paulden both appeared on the electoral register. They were both registered as living at Latimer House, and each one was registered for a vote, making two votes between ‘them’, even though it was just one person.
Then in 2021, Zack Polanski stood for election to the London Assembly, winning a seat. He again listed ‘Latimer House, 40 Hanson Street’ as his home address – where he was again registered twice as two separate voters: Polanski and Paulden.
There is no suggestion he voted more than once, and the Green Party stated: ‘Zack did not vote twice and any suggestion that he may have would be deeply damaging to his reputation.’
A Greens spokesman blamed Westminster Council for the confusion. He said that after changing his name to Zack Polanski by deed poll in April 2019, he had immediately informed the council’s electoral services department.
He later ‘became aware’ that he appeared twice on the register and again alerted the council, in March 2021.
The spokesman said: ‘The main central point that we’re trying to get across to you is it’s all administrative cockups by the council, rather than any attempt by him to defraud or mislead anyone or anything like that.’
The Mail later received a five-page letter from an expensive firm of City lawyers acting on behalf of Mr Polanski repeating that at no stage had he ever voted more than once.
Westminster Council was contacted for comment.
Latimer House in central London where in 2020 and 2021 the registered voters were listed, among others, as Zack Polanski and David Paulden – who are the same person
It is not the first time Mr Polanski has been plagued by administrative errors. Earlier this year he apologised for an ‘unintentional mistake’ over not paying council tax on a houseboat in east London.
The London Assembly member – paid almost £66,500 a year by taxpayers – was cleared after an investigation by the Greater London Authority into his living arrangements resulting from ‘financial hardship’. He pledged to immediately ‘take steps to pay any council tax’ he owed.
In May, he admitted he had not voted in the local elections, having publicly told Hackney’s Green candidate ‘you have my vote’ and his spokesman saying he had postal voted. The Greens said there had been some ‘miscommunication’ and that Mr Polanski was not registered to vote.
At a launch event for his candidacy in the by-election yesterday, Mr Polanski declared: ‘We have the momentum and we can win.’
He said: ‘I have lived and worked across Holborn and St Pancras for many years since, first in Camden Town, with many evenings doing questionable karaoke in the Black Cap pub… [then] I lived through the pandemic in Fitzrovia, two streets from the [constituency] border.’
He takes on Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali in a vote triggered by former prime minister Sir Keir’s departure from Parliament. The seat has been held by Labour since it was created in 1983, but the Greens are confident they have a real chance of taking it.
Support for the Greens surged in his first year as leader but the party’s national polling has dipped since Mr Burnham replaced Sir Keir in Downing Street.
Mr Polanski has previously said he was ‘excited’ by the prospect of winning the seat and entering the Commons.
