I know that many of you will rightly be focused on the positive by-election campaign that we are currently running in Witney so you might have missed that internal elections to our Party’s Committees are now underway. Nominations opened last Wednesday. This is the biggest exercise in internal party democracy which the Party has undertaken in decades, following the implementation of One Member One Vote. For the first time, every member is allowed to vote for committee members and any member who receives the required nominations can stand for election.

There are four committees up for election: the Federal Board, the Federal Conference Committee, the Federal Policy Committee and the Federal International Relations Committee. In addition, a number of spaces are available for members to represent the party within our Delegation to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE). The position of Party President is also up for election this year.

I would encourage all of you to read the descriptions for the committees above. Every member has a part to play in our internal democracy, whether it’s by standing yourself or by properly scrutinising candidates, to make sure that we have the best teams leading our party forward.

The regulations governing these elections and setting out the criteria can be found here.   If you need any further information, it can be found on this page. Please note that you will be need to be signed into the members’ area of the party website to access these two links.

You will be receiving direct instructions on how to vote after nominations close towards the end of November‎, so there is no need to worry about actually voting until then.

PS If you haven’t made it to Witney but want to help Liz’s campaign, you can find out more about how you can help here.

Tim Gordon

Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats and Acting Returning Officer

* Tim Gordon is Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats.