Results of the Electoral Reform Society council elections
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) are meeting in London for their AGM today and I imagine that those attending are digesting the result of the ballot for the Society’s ruling council which were declared a couple of days ago. The full results are here:
Having over the last few weeks blogged about these elections here and here, I thought I better record my response to the result.
All of my top five choices of candidate got elected – so on that score I am happy with the outcome.
In general it looks like a victory for the “reformers”. Only a handful of the incumbents who were re-standing were re-elected so there are a lot of new faces on the council. Hopefully this injection of new blood will give the ERS new energy and new direction.
However, there are also some experienced old hands who have been elected who can provide some continuity. I was particularly pleased to see that Michael Meadowcroft and Keith Sharp were elected. So my impression is of a balanced result which has the potential to be a good thing for the future direction of the ERS.
In an email to members Katie Ghose, the ERS’s Chief Executive, has commented:
“Our recent elections have returned a Council that reflects what our members want – a mix of experience and knowledge, long-serving members along with fresh faces, cross-party representation and a good diversity of age, gender and nations.”
This looks to be about right. If the winners are able to dial down some of the language which was used in the election campaign, work to respect and understand each others opinions, and operate through consensus then I think those elected have the makings of a strong team.
This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.