The Party in England will select our candidates for the next European Parliamentary elections later this year. Although the elections are not until 2014, having candidates in place eighteen months before the elections will allow them to play a leading role in the formulation of the campaign strategy, as well as starting to campaign across the Euro Regions.

As with all selections, our candidates are chosen in a ballot of all Party members. This ballot also determines the order in which candidates appear on the list. For the Euro elections, there will be a postal ballot which is likely to take place in November. Before the ballot, all members will have the opportunity to meet the candidates at a series of hustings, most of which will probably take place at the autumn regional conferences. The candidates will also be using their best campaigning endeavours to contact members.

Aspiring candidates must be approved under the Party’s Parliamentary Candidate approval process. Anyone interested in being a candidate should apply for approval as soon as possible – you can get the necessary application pack from the Candidates’ Office. There will be time to apply for approval after the May elections, but if you don’t have elections in your area you should apply now. Candidates who have been approved for Westminster elections but not for European elections need to undertake a brief Euro assessment/conversion – and should apply to the Candidates’ Office as soon as possible to do this.

* Margaret Joachim is the Chair of the English Candidates Committee and Jonathan Davies is the Senior Returning Officer