A look at the online Deputy Leadership election

Let's take a closer look at the two campaigns for Green Party Deputy Leader. Specifically I thought I'd take a peek at the on-line campaigns. The obvious place to start are the websites for Adrian (who is running on a joint ticket with Caroline Lucas) and Derek.

Adrian and Caroline's site is comprehensive to say the least with candidate statements and biographies including their extensive electoral experience, recent videos, an explanation of how the election works for new members, Caroline's work and Adrian's campaigning as well as an FAQ.

The site is clean and well laid out and, apart from the landing page, is very similar in design to the Green Party national site.

Adrian outlines his political priorities as public services, green economy, reforming politics, and protecting animals. There's a particularly strong element on his site called supporting local parties which outlines concrete party organising and building local campaigns. For me these kinds of specifics will decide my vote.

When it comes to Adrian's endorsements we have respected party members Peter Cranie, Jean Lambert, Peter Tatchell, Patrick Harvie, Darren Johnson, as well as a host of cllrs and moderately well known party activists. The 32 endorsements don't include every senior elected Party member, but it's pretty close.

Derek has less on his site, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and his opening statement is succinct and clear. However the formatting is all over the place and the design far more clunky with misaligned photos, a grey colour scheme and sloppy use of paragraphing which could be sorted out in literally two minutes rendering the endorsements in particular far more accessible.

The site includes videos from his time as principal speaker and an old video with Frost debating a climate denier which are interesting but do feel quite dated. He also includes links to his writings in the Morning Star, the Australian Green Left Weekly and his academic work.

Derek lays out the themes of his campaign by talking about going 'beyond the crisis', that he's a natural communicator, a global green and has thirty years of experience. There is no specific section on what Derek would actually do as Deputy Leader, although having said that some of the endorsement texts are very interesting and well worth a read.

Derek has 21 endorsements most significantly from Comedian Mark Steel and union activist Jerry Hicks. The rest of nominations are all, I think, from Green Left members like the stupendous Jonathan Buckner and serious party stalwarts such as Joseph Healey. Derek only has two elected Greens in his endorsements (two councillors) which, combined with the politically narrow support, does look like a weakness to be honest.

Moving on to the Facebook fan pages we see that Adrian currently has 139 fans for the election and Derek just pips him at the post with 143.

The first thing that grabbed me was that Derek's photo has him relaxed in an informal pose with open shirt and the info page focuses on policy. Adrian's page has him in a far more formal pose complete with tie, and photoshopped in with Caroline, which seems a little unnecessary as there are plenty of pictures of the two of them together.

Adrian has pledges on what he'd do as deputy, and casting an unscientific eye over the members of the group it looks like Adrian has broader support in the party and Derek a clearer left constituency with more non-party members as fans. However, Adrian's wall is more interactive with lots of messages of support while Derek's is mainly messages from the campaign to supporters.

Checking out their non-campaign feeds I notice Adrian has basically a press release style page with a slower cycle of pieces than Derek's blog which has quite a frenetic rate of posting. Looking at the last ten things the candidates have posted on (at the time of writing) I see that Derek has four pieces on Latin America, two pieces from the Morning Star, two pieces on the Australian election and two on the cuts/campaigning for Caroline Lucas. Certainly very internationalist!

Adrian on the other hand has articles on factory farming, VAT, schools, Tesco, open democracy, the first Green Lord Mayor (in Norwich), the ConDem coalition, the Lib Dems and where we stand after the election. As I say this is two months worth of content compared to Derek's week's worth due to the rate of posting but I think the different focus is still instructive with Adrian taking up far more mainstream issues that are closer to home and Derek focusing on more international or ideological subjects.

On twitter both Adrian and Derek are having conversations with supporters, although it doesn't look to me that the candidates are prioritising this part of their online campaigns.

Green bloggers seem to be split roughly fifty fifty each way. The articles I've seen supporting either candidate come out at four a piece, although I may well have missed some (feel free to forward any I've not seen). I think both sides have articulated their positions very well on the blogs and, if you've not yet made up your mind, these posts are a good place to go to to draw out the differences between the candidates.

Adrian: Nishma Doshi, Jason Kitkat, Adam Ramsay (no relation), Peter Cranie
Derek: Joseph Healey, Jane Watkinson, Adam Pogonowski, Red Green Nick

For me both Adrian and Derek are left candidates, but they have very different approaches to politics. Derek often highlights the fact that he is a self-defined 'eco-socialist' and name drops the thinkers he approves of while Adrian almost always focuses on content and has a more task orientated approach to politics.

When I eventually decide how to vote I'll be looking at their politics, their personal capabilities and focus as well as their ability to put out a decent campaign - which has quite a lot of bearing on how effective they will be if elected to the role.

If Green Party members want to submit a question to the online leadership hustings send an email to ero@greenparty.org.uk with the subject header 'hustings question'. Put your name and local party in the email and if your question is for a specific position (either leader or deputy) remember to specify that. You need to do this today to meet the deadline!

Official recommendations in internal elections

There's been an interesting debate developing around whether or not it's anti-democratic for the official top brass to endorse candidates running in a contested election. For those who are opposed it seems to say 'Sure, you *can* vote for the other candidate, but really, it's against policy'.

Let's look at the current Green Party deputy leadership election. Here we have Derek Wall running against Adrian Ramsay, both known and respected figures in the party, but of course Adrian is not just the incumbent he is also running as a joint ticket with the uncontested (and currently unbeatable) Caroline Lucas. Some people clearly think this is a problem.

Personally I'm OK with this because, to me, it seems like useful information to know who Caroline's preferred deputy is. Also the fact that they are running as a team implies a shared political vision or approach, which again is useful information to those deciding where to place their support. The fact that it is overwhelmingly seen as an (undue?) advantage to Adrian is simply because Lucas is well respected in the party - but doesn't this mean her opinion counts and should be heard? Members should have received their ballot papers this week and will still have the option of voting for Derek as deputy, no matter how official Caroline's endorsement may feel to some.

The hard-left example

This is a far cry from the way far-left groupings organise their internal leadership elections. These are decided by the hardcore activists (usually by show of hands) at conferences under the watchful eye of organisers, rather than by post to all members in a secret ballot. They also always use slate systems which suffocate debate, reducing members' options to being in favour or opposed to the official party selection. This gives tremendous weight to a self-perpetuating leadership and all but declares even nuanced disagreement on (or among) candidates as an automatic ticket to political Coventry, which is even worse than the actual Coventry - if you can imagine such a thing.

That's better than CAAT though. I was horrified when I discovered that the Campaign Against Arms Trade has no elections at all but some sort of nebulous self-selected body of elders. It ticks along pretty nicely without all that fuss of members deciding how their money is spent or anything. They still manage to make a worthwhile contribution to the movement, but I think that's inadequate for any organisation that does not want to get mired in conservatism or risk becoming a self-sustaining clique.

For me tickets, like the Lucas/Ramsay combined candidacy provide a useful function as long as members have the power to buck the recommendations if they so choose, which in the Greens they do because they still vote for individuals, not lists. However, I would draw the line at 'official' tickets, which seem inappropriate, painting those unlucky enough not to be on that list as unrepresentative of the organisation, when surely that's what the election is there to decide.

Official recommendations

An interesting variation on this is the Fawcett Society's internal trustee elections, which are taking place at the moment. Here members are being asked to elect six of nine candidates (using the completely inappropriate STV system). The existing Fawcett board provide their recommendations of which six they want members to elect to help to run it which goes out with the candidate statements.

While I'm not informed enough to quibble with the out-going board's recommendation which is probably sound (and the London Library use the same system) this process does seem to have a few ethical issues when it comes to accountability and openness.

Caroline Lucas endorsing Adrian may *feel* like the official endorsement of the Green Party to some members but it falls far short of the Fawcett option of the organisation actually telling members who it wants them to elect to hold it to account.

Note: If Green Party members want to submit a question to the online leadership hustings send an email to ero@greenparty.org.uk with the subject header 'hustings question'. Put your name and local party in the email and if your question is for a specific position (either leader or deputy) remember to specify that.

Who is running for the Green Party executive?

I've just finished putting together the hub page for the Green Party national executive (GPEx) elections where you can read the candidate statements from the small, select band of hopefuls. You can see it in its full glory here and you never know, it might tempt you to stand.

My comparison chart of the deputy leader candidates here. Derek Wall now has a site for his deputy leadership campaign here and Adrian and Caroline have their's here.

You might also like to know that the party will be conducting an online hustings for the leadership candidates. Submit your (single) question to ero@greenparty.org.uk clearly marked 'Hustings question' in the subject header.

In the run up to September's conference a bit of a pre-conference discussion has started up and I thought I'd highlight a few of the posts I've spotted before finding time to contribute myself. Do let me know if I've missed any out.

• Earlier tonight Peter Cranie posted on the leadership election.
• Rupert Reed has two pieces on Bright Green Scotland one on where we go from here the other on building the membership.
  
• Tom Chance writes on turning green shoots into roots.
• Doc Richard talks about restating the political roots of the Green Party.
• Jane Watkinson writes on how the Greens must resist mainstream pressures.
  
• On a related note Peter McColl of the Scottish Greens has a piece on campaigning out of our comfort zone.
  

Green Party National Executive elections

It's that time of year again when the Green Party elects it's national executive. As usual we're in a position where no one wants to take on what's seen as a thankless role with too much work and too little support.

It's not a big surprise that the leadership role is uncontested with just Caroline putting herself forwards - although it is disappointing as it's an opportunity for the party to debate it's direction outside of the more narrow confines of specific conference motions. However, I'm pleased that the deputy leader post *is* contested as I mentioned a few days ago.

These two posts will now go to postal ballot with the results announced at September's conference.

The Green Party national executive has eleven named posts of which seven have had one candidate put forward their name and four posts have no contestants. The nominations for all these posts are still open and I'd like to encourage anyone who is a member of the party to consider putting themselves forward for one of these posts (request a nomination pack from the Electoral Returning Officer on ero@greenparty.org.uk). These positions will be elected at conference in Birmingham.

There will soon be candidate statements available on the national website for the following contested positions.

• Chair: Jayne Forbes
• Campaigns: Romayne Phoenix
• Elections: Judy Macieowska
• Finance: Dean Walton
• Local Party Support: Gayle O'Donovan
• Management: Tom Beaton
• Publications: Edward Milford

There are no candidates for the following posts: Equality & Diversity, External Communications, Internal Communications, International, Policy. In fairness I should point out that I think many members thought the incumbents for three of the four would be standing again and that they would have been uncontroversial which is why these roles are currently uncontested.

Now all these candidates are lovely, but I was particularly pleased to see Gayle's name in the list as she's from Manchester, unlike the other six candidates who all live in London. Come on Green Party, we can do better than that!

The party could make a big advance in the European elections in the North West and South West in 2014 where we came so close last time, but it's unlikely to happen if there is no-one from those regions fighting their corner on the executive. I really do think it's important that the executive reflects the geographic spread of the party.

If you're not from London, or even if you are I suppose, and want advice/help around standing for one of these posts I'd be happy to help, as would Jon Nott, the ERO, I'm sure. I'm not guaranteeing to vote for you, obviously, but these elections really do need to be contested, not to mention the posts that no-one wants to do.

Deputy Leader Contenders Announced

The contenders for the post of Deputy Leader of the Green Party have been announced and it's going to be a run off between Adrian Ramsay, the incumbent, and Derek Wall, the ex-male Principle Speaker and doyen of the Green Left.

For your reading pleasure I have put together some information on each of the candidates to help you decide. I won't be plumping for either candidate until nearer the time. There will be hustings and candidate statements to follow;

Candidate:	Adrian Ramsay	Derek Wall
Employment:	Politician	Teacher in economics
Age:	28	45
Length of Party membership	12 years	3o years
Internal roles	Deputy leader from 2008, leading roles in Green Group on Norwich council	Male principle speaker 2006-08 A number of leading positions in party from 1989 through 90's.
Electoral highs:	Local councillor in Norwich's Nelson ward since 2003, 14.9% in Norwich South in 2010	2.46% in Windsor at the 2005 General Election.
Support base:	The Norwich machine, "respectable" Greens	Green Left and the indigenous peoples of Latin America.
Personal factlets:	Adrian is a vegan who likes to go walking on the Scottish islands	Derek is a Zen-Buddhist, non-driver with three children
Last two statements on current issues	Party funding reform	Proportional representation
.	The coalition government	Polish elections