Wednesday, November 03, 2010

The Liberal leadership campaign rules

Leadership campaign rules and their application can help or hurt candidates.
The Liberal constitution - supplied helpfully by Sean Holman of publiceyeonline.com - gives the party executive four weeks to set a date for a leadership vote after they get a resignation letter.
They have to set a date for the vote within the next six months. Assuming Gordon Campbell wrote a resignation letter today, the leadership vote would have to be held no later than June 1.
All paid-up party members get a mail-in vote if they have joined at least 41 days - say six weeks - before the date of the leadership convention.
So, if the executive set a Dec. 12 leadership vote, only the people who were already party members could vote.
But parties like leadership races because the candidates rush around signing up new party members who will support them, theoretically building the membership base. (Though instant party members tend not to stick around after the leadership vote.) A later date would give leadership candidates a chance to persuade more people to buy memberships and support them.
This is all uncharted territory. The last leadership contest, which Campbell, of course, won, was 17 years ago and used a telephone voting system the party has abandoned.
To win, a candidate needs a majority. It's not clear, to me anyway, whether that must mean a succession of mail ballots or some form of voting that lets members rank all the candidates.

5 comments:

seth said...

Gordo holds the world view common of all fascists from Brimstone Harper and henchmen to our new Tea Party friends down south. Most are crooks the others religious zeolots.

These malevolent individuals keep their jobs because the progressive forces that oppose them are led by forces like gurly man Obama, or women that just want everybody to be nice. When it comes time to stand up for their beliefs in an election, progressives from union men to the those who live in poverty stay home not relating well to oh so nice leaders that offer compromise instead of butt kickings to the enemy.

Here's a chance to do something about it. That halfwit over at the NDP with the giant bloated ego who hasn't had a thought in years that wasn't programmed into her by staff (Sihota), is not going to resign ever and the NDP run by the autocratic antidemocratic forces in that party have seen to it that there is no way to remove her anytime soon.

Progressives need to take this opportunity to give the fascists the boot from the BCLiberal party and give us a relatively enlightened government for the next 4 years. Send twits like Falcon, Dick (Darth Vader) Coleman, Herr Kruger, and Mary Polak over to the BC Con party where they belong.

Now is the perfect opportunity. Resign your NDP and Green party memberships. Join the other progressives currently silenced at the BCLiberal Party, buy a membership and take a shot at straightening out this mess.

Anonymous said...

I think the more useful observation is:

Vander Zalm resigns - 2 April 1991
Johnston elected leader - July 1991
General election - 17 Oct 1991

Harcourt reigns - 15 Nov 1995
Clark elected leader - 18 Feb 1996
Election - 28 May 1996

DPL said...

Gordo may be gone, but not very far. he will still be running the show for a number of months, which should make it hard for the ones trying to get the job. and even after being dragged bodily off the stage he claims that he will sit as a MLA. Must be killing time till his very fine pension kicks in, r somebody gives him a job

jonnylcp said...

Join the other progressives currently silenced at the BCLiberal Party.

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Anonymous said...

It just gets worse day by day with Mr Campbell.. I see now the liberal convention has been put on hold?
My guess would be he will hang on like a bad smell then in a few months will re-instate himself as premier and leader after the rabble have died down
. go already!!!