On February 26, the United Kingdom held a special parliamentary election in the Gorton & Denton district, which is in Manchester. Previously, the Labour Party had won this district in every election starting in 1931. However, the Green Party won. Eleven candidates were on the ballot. The Green, Hannah Soencer, won with 41%. See this wikipedia article about the election. This was only the second special Parliamentary election in the United Kingdom since the general election of 2024.

The only other constituency in the United Kingdom that had ever elected someone who was solely a Green Party nominee had been Brighton. That district elected Caroline Lucas in 2010 and re-elected her in 2015, 2017, and 2019. She did not run for re-election in 2024.

On January 22, the New Mexico House Rules Committee ruled that HB 135 cannot be considered in the 2026 session. Bills in even years can’t be considered unless the Rules Committee approves them, or unless they are budget bills, or bills on a subject for which the Governor has approved, or bills that had been vetoed in the preceding odd year. The bill would have cut the number of signatures for non-presidential independent candidates, and the non-presidential nominees of qualified minor parties, from 2% to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote.

On February 18, the Utah Senate passed SB 194. It changes the method for filling legislative vacancies. Current law says if a legislative seat becomes vacant, the party can choose a replacement. Under current law, a State Senator who had been elected as a Republican in 2024, but who had changed its registration to the Forward Party during 2025 and who had then resigned, made it possible for the Forward Party to choose his replacement last year.

The bill says that current political party of the legislator who vacated that seat is not the party that chooses the replacement. Instead, the party that chooses the replacement is whatever party the outgoing member was last elected under. If this bill had been policy last year, the Forward Party would not have a State Senator in Utah.