Six Guildford Candidates Nominated for the General Election

Published on: 12 May, 2017
Updated on: 13 May, 2017

Six general election candidates have been nominated for the Guildford parliamentary constituency. They are:

Mark Andrew Bray-Parry (The Green Party)
Semi Essessi
Zoe Louise Franklin (Liberal Democrat)
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative Party)
John Hugh Morris (The Peace Party, Non-violence, Justice, Environment)
Howard Daniel Smith (Labour Party)

All the candidates have given home addresses in Guildford, although for Semi Essessi only “(address in Guildford)” is stated on the nomination form published by Guildford Borough Council.

A Guildford Borough Council spokesperson clarified: “Candidates at a Parliamentary election must complete a ‘Home Address’ form as part of the nomination process. However, they may choose to have this information withheld from the ballot paper and statement of persons nominated.

“The regulations that cover the home address of a candidate were amended in Section 24 of the Political Parties and Elections Act 2009. If they withhold their address, they do have to state the name of the constituency or County their home address falls in (in this case Guildford).

“Mr Essessi has completed all the required documentation.”

The nomination list confirms that, although considered, no electoral pact agreement was reached between the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.

The election will be held on June 8th.

The official nomination form published by Guildford Borough Council.

Responses to Six Guildford Candidates Nominated for the General Election

Barbara Ford Reply

May 25, 2017 at 8:14 pm

I was very surprised to see on my postal ballot paper that one of the candidates, called “Semi Essessi”, gives no address or indeed any information other than the name.

Thank you, Guildford Dragon, for the explanation: I now understand that this anonymity is lawful. However, it seems to me highly undesirable – no doubt Mr Essessi himself means well, but the general prospect of an elected MP who does not fully identify himself to his constituents is surely dangerous as well as bizarre.

I gather from this candidate’s LinkedIn profile (thank you, Google) that he is an IT expert – so maybe I am simply out of date. But it’s going to be difficult, if anonymity becomes a trend, to distinguish the real humans from the Artificial Intelligences, and then the benign AI from the hacked or enemy AI. Food for thought?

I mentioned this comment to Mr Essedi this evening at the University of Surrey hustings and he said that he will reconsider witholding his address which he shares with others. Ed