Democracy turned upside
down – Updated 18 September
Last night the voting by Zoom took place for the election
of officers for the Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association. (see post below) How did it go?
·
The total membership of the Association
was not given so no one knew the size of the electorate. It is believed to be about 1,350.
·
The total number of members registered to
vote was not given. It is believed to
have been about 300.
·
The total number participating was shown
on the screen as 216. This is
considerably down on the number registered.
Why? Were there technical
problems. Research should be done on
the reasons for this. In more than one
case there was no sound so the instructions from the CCHQ manager were not
heard.
·
No time limit was put on the voting. It was left to the CCHQ Manager to decide
when to stop. There should have been a
time limit. In practice, he stopped
when he said everyone had voted.
Astonishing that there were no abstentions!
·
The candidates were not asked to provide
their own scrutineers. This is
essential to ensure that the vote is fair.
People appointed as scrutineers by CCHQ are not necessarily wholly independent.
·
There was no vote at all on the election
of the Vice Presidents, even en bloc!
·
Transparency and accountability are
essential elements of democracy. It is
clear CCHQ still have lessons to be learned!
I totally Concur with all your comments. I actually asked privately to Edward in the Ballot meeting was he going to give figures of how members were voting. He just said these would be provided to the association. Very poor turn out Thursday and Friday night. The candidates were not asked to make a speech and no questions were asked of them. The Ballot could of actually been carried out before the AGM. Why was it not ?
ReplyDeleteWe still have a long way to go to become a party with democratic values.