Thursday, July 29, 2004

Election of Party President

As those of you who are Liberal Democrats will know Lord Dholakia is completing final term as Federal Party President at this Autumn’s Party Conference. As a result there is a ballot of all party members with the deadline for ballot papers reaching Cowley Street 27th August 2004.

So on Wednesday morning I received a copy of Liberal Democrats News, which had manifestos from both the candidates Simon Hughes MP and Lembit Opik MP.

When I first looked at the two manifestos I were very disappointed at the quality of the manifestos. I know I am not one to speak considering what my manifesto for LDYS GEM Elections was but I did expect better from Simon and Lembit.

What impressed me about Simon’s Manifesto was that he says he wants to build the appeal of the Liberal Democrats, build the support for the Liberal Democrats so that we have more members. Simon says he will introduce welcome packs for new members, make annual President’s reports and improve communication all year round. Which is all very impressive if I had the opportunity to ask questions on the basis of what his manifesto says I would ask,

1.    With a fairly anti Liberal Democrats press how does he intend to use the press to build the appeal of the Liberal Democrats?
2.    With the General Public being more and more sceptical about politics and politicians how does he intend to target people to increase our membership?
3.    How soon will these welcome packs for new members be sent out because currently there seems to be a never ending wait for membership cards to arrive after you have sent off your registration forms?
4.    How will he improve communications?

What impressed me about Lembits’s Manifesto was that he says he will continue to visit members countrywide and he'll continue to train our campaigners.
The questions I would ask Lembit are,
1.                How will he combine his role of MP, President and Front bench spokesperson to ensure that none of them suffer due to the other?
2.                How will he ensure that training is available to all and not only those who attend the conferences?

Now having had a look at the manifestos and having had a good think about I think I may just be ready to vote.
Good Luck to both the candidates.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

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Water-Garden-Directory.com

2/11/05 03:18  

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