London, United Kingdom\u2013 At a meeting organised by a Muslim group in London ahead of a closely watched by-election, candidates from the Green and Liberal Democrat parties made their cases to residents beside empty seats. Their Labour and Conservative peers did not turn up.<\/p>\n
Labour candidate Sagal Abdi Wali, a Somali-Muslim woman, told The Guardian she did not attend because she had a prior obligation and the invite had come too late. But the organiser, the Camden Muslim Network, pushed back, saying that she was invited earlier.<\/p>\n
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Fifteen candidates are in the race for former Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s old seat, including Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, who hopes to become a member of parliament.<\/p>\n
Since the seat was created in Holborn and St Pancras in 1983, the Labour Party has held it. Starmer was first elected in 2015 and held it until his resignation, which triggered the by-election due to take place on Thursday.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, the conversation ranged from local issues such as housing to Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n
Lib Dem candidate Patrick Stillman said his party had long called for Palestinian statehood but would not support a full boycott.<\/p>\n
But Polanski had a different opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the Labour government\u2019s position is deeply cynical to apologise over Gaza, to recognise that mistakes have been made but to continue to sell arms to Israel, a country that\u2019s committing a genocide,\u201d he said to applause, adding that his party, which recently voted to describe Zionism as racism, supports a full boycott.<\/p>\n
In leaflets sent to constituency residents, the Green Party focused on Abdi-Wali\u2019s time as a Labour councillor and, more recently, as leader of Camden council \u2013 a role she secured in May.<\/p>\n
One reads: \u201cBring change, Replace Labour, Vote Green\u201d. On its reverse: \u201cEvery single Camden Labour councillor refused to sign the Palestine solidarity pledge or support pension fund divestment<\/a>. Only Greens continue to stand firm on Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, Abdi-Wali spoke to the Camden New Journal, a local newspaper, about Gaza and the Green Party\u2019s leaflets.<\/p>\n It was \u201cobviously inaccurate\u201d to say the Labour council did not feel strongly about the issue, she told the paper. \u201cI want to focus on making sure that we\u2019re able to put the message of what [Foreign Secretary] Ed Miliband<\/a> is now doing with the government and on Palestine and Israel and Gaza and the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n In January, Camden Friends of Palestine (CFOP), a local group that formed in response to Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza, presented a petition to the local council with 4,000 signatures calling for the council to divest its pension fund from companies involved in Israel\u2019s actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n Abdi-Wali, then a Labour councillor, did not support the motion. Rather than committing to divestment, most councillors voted to refer the question to the pension board for review.<\/p>\n \u201cMy impression of her and her politics is that she\u2019s just really incredibly silent on everything, if there isn\u2019t a career motive for her, and that\u2019s kind of disappointing,\u201d said 38-year-old Shadin, a resident and CFOP organiser, who plans to vote for Polanski.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching a livestreamed genocide has made a lot of people that I know \u2026 disengage from mainstream politics or parliamentary politics\u201d.<\/p>\n Like many London constituencies, a key issue is housing.<\/p>\n According to a \u201c2026 state of the borough\u201d report by Camden council, 8,380 households were on the waiting list for social housing at the end of March 2025, \u201can increase of 9.5 percent on the year before.\u201d<\/p>\n On Friday, in the constituency\u2019s more affluent area of Primrose Hill, one resident said they would vote for Labour in the upcoming election, while another believed that regardless of who wins, life will not change.<\/p>\n In Camden, another resident told Al Jazeera that while they live in the area, they were not aware of the election, as Labour canvassers buzzed to gain entry into a nearby estate in the background.<\/p>\n As both parties make their final efforts to secure victory, recent polls predict a close race.<\/p>\n