Tag Archives: internal elections

Scottish Lib Dems internal elections underway

Returning Officer John Lawrie started off the Scottish Lib Dems internal elections yesterday. Nominations are now open for candidates for office bearer positions and the party committees, along with representatives to Federal Party Committees and the Federal Council to serve for the next two years.

It’s a challenging time for the Scottish Party. The people elected at this set of elections will need to progress the 150 Rising project, to almost double our councillors at the next set of council elections in 2027, as well as get us through the General Election and prepare for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026.

Nominations close on 13th November, to give people time to think about standing and to get nominations at and after Autumn Conference on 4th November.

Any member of the Scottish Party can stand and the nominations process is all online, so there is no need to get anyone to sign bits of paper.

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Federal Board is the election, forward planning is the watchword

Our party has elections to 67 positions on 6 different committees and two directly elected positions coming up. Conference will be awash with the people vying for our votes. But we can’t lose focus of the need for experience, good governance and forward planning.

The committees up for election are admittedly an odd mix, from the fairly obvious Federal Board (to provide strategic overview to our party), to the opaque Federal International Relations Committee.

However, a running theme throughout these elections must be a steadfast focus on what we want to achieve as a party and how we achieve it.

With that in mind, it is important to note that the opinion polls are increasingly pointing toward a hung parliament with us as potential kingmakers. Don’t just take my word for it, Ian King agreed in his recent Times writeup about our conference.

It goes without saying that this would be a fantastic position to be in. As a party we exist to win elections then use that power to improve people’s lives. Any opportunity we have to do so should be carefully planned for.

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged and | 6 Comments

The Young Liberals need you (terms and conditions apply)!

This year’s Young Liberals elections are up and running, with nominations open until 4 October and the winners being decided by 25 October.

Naturally, here at Liberal Democrat Voice, we not only don’t endorse candidates, but maintain strict neutrality, working with Returning Officers to ensure that, as far as the pages of this organ are concerned, we don’t tilt the electoral playing field towards, or away from, individual candidates.

However, we do want to encourage all eligible members to take part in these upcoming elections, be it as a candidate or a voter. Many of us have worked with, or held positions in, the Young Liberals over the years and, as an opportunity to contribute to the success of the wider party, but also to take an active role and learn new skills, they offer a space for anyone to get engaged.

There are seventy positions up for grabs, at Federal, State and Regional levels, each with a different skillset required, from policy roles to representation, from organisation to leadership, from design to communication, and all will be key to building up the campaigning capacity and strength of the organisation as a potential General Election nears.

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The first results in the party internal elections are in

As we have publicised a couple of times, a new round of party elections is taking place. The electorate is the Federal Board.

The following people have been elected unopposed:

Registered Treasurer & Chair of Federal Finance and Resources Committee:     Peter Dunphy

Party Treasurer:                                               Lord Mike German

Chair of Federal Campaigns and Elections Committee:                               James Gurling

Chair of Campaign for Gender Balance:                                             Candy Piercy

Vice Chair of Federal Board:                                               Neil Fawcett

Federal Board Rep on Federal International Relations …

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ICYMI: Internal elections part 2 – some open to all party members

Tim Gordon told us last week about a new slate of internal party elections. Some posts are open to all party members. The deadline is next Monday at noon. Have a look and stand if anything takes your fancy. You will need to get two members of the old Federal Executive or new Federal Board to nominate you. Details of how to contact them are included below.

You may have noticed during the elections to Party committees late last year that there would be a second round of elections to some of our more specialised party committees, not least the Federal People Development Committee and the Federal Finance and Resources Committee.

While all members are invited to seek nominations to these committees (and a variety of other individual posts – see here for details), due to the specialised nature of these roles nominations must be made by members of either the outgoing Federal Executive (see here), or the incoming Federal Board (here). It will then be the Federal Board who will vote for who sits on these various committees. If you have any trouble getting in touch with any of the members, please contact the

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ALDE Bureau elections: the runners and riders

alde-congress-2016Yes, it’s election time again, as the ALDE Party elects different positions in alternate years, the Presidency and some Vice-Presidents in odd-numbered years, the Treasurer and a few more Vice-Presidents in even-numbered years.

This year, there is no British interest, with Ros Scott having been safely elected as a Vice-President last year. As for the Treasurer, it looks as though there will be a intra-Slovene handover, with outgoing Treasurer, Roman Jakič, expected to be replaced by the sole candidate, Gašper Koprivsek from SMC (Modern Centre Party).

There are five candidates for three Vice-Presidential slots;

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Sheila Thomson elected Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats

Sheila Thomson has been elected Convener of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. She beat Perth Councillor Willie Wilson and gained a spooky 666 votes.

Sheila has been Conference Convener for the past 3 years and was previously a Councillor in Aberdeenshire.

In the other Scottish internal elections, the following were elected:

Executive

Alan Reid

Allan Heron

Christine Jardine

David Green

Dawud Islam

Emma Farthing-Sykes

Galen Milne

Graham Garvie

Jacquie Bell

James Harrison

Jenny Marr

Paul McGarry

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Opinion: Lib Dem write in campaign gathers support

Just last year Linda Jack, a reasonably prominent Lib Dem, failed to secure enough nominations to stand for the position of Party President.

The fact that a well-known party figure could not muster the required number of names to take part in one of the most important internal elections suggests we are going wrong in the nominations process.

Of course, if we allowed write-in candidates for internal party elections, Linda’s campaign would have been able to continue.

The hours she and others had invested in developing a vision for the future of the party would not have gone to waste.

Those who did support her …

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Final Reminder: All votes in party committee elections must be cast by noon tomorrow

Here’s all you need to know:

How do I vote?

Voting papers were distributed by email to all those federal voting representatives for whom the party had an email address on the morning of Monday 3 November. It came from Electoral Reform Services and has a two part security code and a link to enable you to vote.

Those for whom the party did not have an email address were sent a letter advising them how to vote online and if they weren’t able to do that, to contact LDHQ for advice.

If you haven’t had either of these and you are a Federal Conference voting representative, contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

When do I have to vote by?

Thursday, 20th November at noon. That’s tomorrow to you and me. In fact, it’s 17 hours from now. Best do it before you go to bed tonight. NB this is not the same as for the Presidential election which closes on 26th November. 

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Liberal Youth seeks new non portfolio officer and vice chair

Liberal Youth are seeking to c0-0pt two new members of their Executive, a non-portfolio officer and a vice chair. Any member of the party under 26 or any member of Liberal Youth is eligible to stand.

The non-portfolio officers of Liberal Youth assist the other executive members on any matter needed, and are not confined to any one area.They pick up tasks, or whole projects where necessary, and contribute on a variety of levels to ensure the smooth running of the organisation.

The Vice Chair’s role is to act as temporary Chair …

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Last chance to stand for important internal elections – deadline 5pm tomorrow, 18th January

Do you have a head for figures and financial management, an interest in international relations, diversity, SAOs or campaigns?

I wrote last week that there were some important internal elections next week. The electorate is very small, the newly elected Federal Executive of which I am a member. However, you don’t have to be a member of that body to stand. Many of the positions up for grabs are open to any member of the Liberal Democrats.

The posts to be elected are listed in full on the members’ only website.They include posts such as five members of the Federal Finance …

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Opinion: We should elect all Liberal Democrat nominees to the House of Lords

In 2012 House of Lords reform failed. In 2013 it’s time for Liberal Democrats to show their continuing commitment to democratic reform.

We clearly can’t get the law changed at the moment but we can make a clear, unambiguous statement of intent. It’s just simple democracy and it’s easy; the membership should elect the Liberal Democrat candidates for the Lords. One simple motion at the party conference and a bit of commitment from the leadership is all it takes.

Well of course it’s not that simple, so let’s examine a few of the arguments against and the counter arguments:

This is just internal

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 15 Comments
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