There are just eleven days left to get your nominations in for the candidates you’d like to see elected to Party committees.
If you need a reminder of which roles are up for election, here it is:
Top of the bill is Federal President, to take over from Sal Brinton on 1 January and serve for 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is a major role chairing the party’s Federal Board, protecting and representing members, and acting as guardian of the party’s interests. Hustings will be held throughout the country during the two-month campaign, and candidates may raise and spend £20,000 campaigning for the job.
The party’s senior Federal Committees for the next three years are also up for re-election: Federal Board members (15); Federal Policy Committee members (15); Federal Conference Committee members (12); and Federal International Relations Committee members (6).
These elections will run concurrently with the Presidential election. There are no hustings or campaign budgets for committee places, but candidates are entitled to submit a short manifesto which will be posted on the election pages of the party website and on a ‘click-through’ when members cast their votes.
Members in England, Scotland and Wales will each also elect one State Representative to the Federal Board.
We are also electing our delegation to our European party’s ALDE (Alliance of Liberal Democrats in Europe) Council (6 representatives – including one from each state and one under age 26). It’s also worth noting that if there is a General Election in the near future, then our delegation may well increase in size – so we will likely need more than just 6 candidates!
Members in Scotland will also be electing the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ Party committees for 2020 on a broadly concurrent timetable and using the same online voting platform.
Members in Wales will be electing the Welsh Liberal Democrats’ Party committees this autumn, but their own rules may mean a slightly different timetable and they will be using the same online voting platform.
You can find out more about all of these roles, the process, rules and of course, how to get nominated here
This year, we are also trialling online nominations.
To nominate someone online, you’ll need your Unique Nomination Code, which can be requested here.
Once you have it, you’ll be sent a link to a form where you can nominate as many candidates as you like (with their consent of course!). We hope that this will make it easier than ever before for candidates who can’t make it to conference to get nominated.
Nominations close at 5pm on Monday 30th September – so if you do want to stand, you’d better start gathering signatures soon.
Members will start to receive ballots by email (except for those without email addresses, who will receive a postal vote) on the 28th October and the results in all of the elections are expected on the 19th November.
If you’re planning to stand in this round of elections, then I wish you the best of luck.
If you aren’t, then I hope you are able to attend one of the Presidential election hustings and to cast your vote for, what I am certain will be a fantastic slate of candidates.
* Sir Nick Harvey was the Liberal Democrat MP for North Devon from 1992 until 2015 and Minister of State for the Armed Forces from 2010 to 2012
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3 Comments
Could I just point out that at a first glance it isn’t necessarily obvious that the “online nomination” process isn’t entirely online. If you don’t click on the “Downloadable nomination papers” link you don’t see the text that says: “You can also trial our new online nomination forms here (please note that candidates will still need to submit a paper nomination form with all of their candidate information).”
It would be helpful it were crystal clear in all the appropriate places.
Soooooo…. what about English members, when do we get to elect our English Liberal Democrats’ Party committees?
@Andy Hinton “Soooooo…. what about English members, when do we get to elect our English Liberal Democrats’ Party committees?”
From The English Liberal Democrats page “The governing body of the English Liberal Democrats is the English Council, which meets twice a year. It is made up of representatives of all the English Regional Parties, who are elected at their regional conferences.”