Not only do you not need to be a conference rep to go to conference, you don’t need to go to federal conference to become a federal voting conference rep.
It’s often assumed that it is only worth becoming a conference rep if you are going to go to conference, and as a result local parties further away from the venues in particular often do not elect a full slate of conference reps. However, whilst this is the primary role for voting conference reps, it is not the only role. Notably, it is the conference representatives who get the votes in the party’s internal committee elections – for the Federal Executive, Federal Policy Committee, Federal Conference Committee and so on.
So when it comes to your local party’s AGM, why not make sure your local party has a full set of conference reps, regardless of how many are intending to go to conference next year?
You may also find my Ten tips for running a better AGM helpful too.
* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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6 Comments
But many Local Party activists, when electing conference reps , prefer to choose someone who is sure they can attend conference as they feel it is of paramount importance. Why not split voting in Federal elections away from this as ability to attend conference does not necessarily qualify you as the best selector for Federal Elections? Why not one member, one vote as we do for Leader?
Also, it’s possible to “substitute” voting reps if somebody who’s been elected can’t go. But that now has to be done quite far in advance of Conference.
It is time to introduce remote voting at conference – people unable to attend for any reason should be able to register for home-based voting via the internet or phone (with a code number for security) while watching the debates online or on the TV.
Federal Party needs to become properly democratic, it needs to adopt, like the Scottish Party has, one member, one vote, for all internal party elections.
needs to be one member one vote.
How to change the constitution tho?
Louise, with a constitutional amendment motion to Conference, of course!