The outcome of the leadership election has been announced on International Women's Day. 

Published 8 March 2018

Sophie Walker has been elected as Leader of the Women’s Equality Party.  

In the first ballot of party members and supporters to choose their Leader, Sophie won 90.1% of the vote compared to 9.9% for Magda Devas.

WE congratulate both candidates who put themselves forward for the spirit in which they conducted the campaign. WE also wish to thank the returning officer, the candidates' teams, and especially the members and supporters who participated in the democratic process. 

Live stream from the leadership announcement event

Sophie Walker said:

"I'm delighted and grateful to be elected Leader of the Women's Equality Party in this wonderful celebration of democracy.

“Thank you to everyone who voted for me and supported my vision for a revolutionary approach to politics that centres feminism as the antidote to our tired institutions and broken economic models.

“Let's get to work straight away to build better care systems, build feminist housing and foreign policies and end violence against women.

“And let's always work together, from the ground up – side by side – to grow our movement and encourage new members, future candidates and leaders.

“This party is your party and as leader I want to give power to all of you so that together we can make WE really fly. I'll see you soon."

Magda Devas said: 

"I’m amazed and delighted that more than 500 people voted for me. The ideas I’ve put forward to increase the level of democracy and transparency in the party clearly hold water.

"I wish Sophie all the best in taking forward these discussions. We will then have a party that has liberating ways of working as well as policies that dismantle the patriarchy."

Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig, the co-founders of the Women’s Equality Party, said:

“We are delighted that Sophie Walker has been chosen to lead the Women’s Equality Party in the first ever ballot of the membership. This is an endorsement of Sophie’s extraordinary performance in the role since 2015, when the original steering committee elected her not only to lead the party but to build it from the ground up. She returns to that job not only with her passion, commitment and incredible skills to inspire and mobilise but also with three years’ worth of invaluable experience. We could not be happier or more confident that she will lead the party to great achievements, to the benefit of everyone in the UK, especially women and girls.

“Some of her learning experiences came recently, in a leadership contest against a very worthy challenger, Magda Devas. One of the most exciting things for us, as co-founders, has been to see the talent unleashed by this party. Magda joins the growing crowd of amazing women, all new to politics, who through their candidacies for the Women’s Equality Party are helping to articulate a vision for a society and an economy that enable to women to thrive so that all may thrive. She has a pivotal role to play in the party’s future.  

“We pay tribute to both Sophie and Magda for putting themselves up for election, for producing innovative and exciting visions of how the party can move forward, and for the respectful spirit in which the campaign was conducted – which proved that in this party we can do politics differently.

“The Women’s Equality Party has come a long way since it was founded three years ago, and this leadership election represents another step in its development. There is still a huge body of work to do and we look forward to our members and supporters driving that change under Sophie’s lead.”

Voting took place between 14 February and 6 March. Women’s Equality Party members and registered supporters were entitled to vote. Members’ votes were weighted to count for nine times more than supporters’.

Sophie received a weighted total of 5,552 votes and Magda received 550.

The declaration of the results is here.