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Alexis Celink wants to give voters a choice in the upcoming council elections and raise the profile of the climate emergency.

Standing in the Morgan Jones ward, where he has lived for over ten years, he is the only Green Party candidate in Caerphilly County Borough.

Mr Celink has been a member of the Green Party for just over a year and is also a member of the non-political group Extinction Rebellion. Despite being the party’s sole candidate, he is urging anyone who cares about the environment to vote Green.

Mr Celink said: “I’m representing the one party that is challenging the issues surrounding the all encompassing problem of climate change.

“I am not asking you to make personal changes, have that foreign holiday, drive that car, but if you don’t want to make personal changes to fight the climate crises you need to make system changes.

“So instead, elect someone that will hold Caerphilly County Borough Council accountable and use this platform to bring other branches of government with us into a sustainable landscape.”

The candidate added that even if he is not successful on May 5, he hopes his competition for the environmental votes will push other political parties to do more to address the Climate Emergency and to “take the issue seriously”.

The Labour-led Caerphilly County Borough Council declared a Climate Emergency in June, 2019.

Mr Celink said: “We are in unprecedented times, The governments of the UK declared a climate Emergency back in May 2019, with many local authorities following suit, but since then has it been treated as an emergency?

“The answer is no. We need every aspect of government, every aspect of the system to be scrutinised by someone who will place the climate emergency above all else.

“We can elect a person who will say the unpopular, who will keep the emergency on the agenda, who will fight for the future generations.”

Gwent Green Party contacted all its members asking them to stand in the council elections and this is how Alexis Celink got involved, but he was the only one from the Caerphilly region.

The party has four candidates standing in Newport.

Who else is standing in the Morgan Jones ward?