Camden Council leader Sagal Abdi-Wali will contest the by-election in Holborn and St Pancras, Sir Keir Starmer’s former constituency.
Abdi-Wali was chosen as Labour’s candidate after local party members selected her to fight for the seat.
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The council leader, who has represented Camden Square since 2022 and took charge of Camden Council in May, will stand in the 8 October by-election.
The constituency was left vacant after Sir Keir, who resigned as prime minister earlier this year, announced on 1 September that he would step down as an MP. He said it was the right time to leave Parliament and concentrate on international affairs.
Abdi-Wali said she was “delighted that local members have put their trust in me to be Labour’s candidate in the area I’ve grown up in”.
She said: “This place welcomed my family as refugees and gave us hope when we needed it most.
“I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to build a life here, serving our community as a councillor, school governor and community activist.”
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who sits on the London Assembly, is seeking his party’s nomination. He faces competition from local councillor Hamza Chowdhury.
Chowdhury has argued that the constituency does not need “another MP who arrives during an election campaign” and then “disappears once the votes are counted”.
Polanski said on Wednesday that he was “proud” to be facing a rival and dismissed the criticism.
“I think the local party already knows that doesn’t describe me at all. It’s a place that I know very, very well,” he said.
Labour has represented the inner London constituency since its creation in 1983, securing at least 40% of the vote at every general election.
Sir Keir received 48.9% of the vote in 2024, followed by independent candidate Andrew Feinstein on 18.9% and the Greens on 10.4%. The Conservatives won 7.2%, Reform UK 6.1% and the Liberal Democrats 5.8%.
The Greens strengthened their position in Camden during May’s local elections.
