Mark Valladares takes the "Open Up" campaign to task
There is an excellent post by Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy today where he rips into the "Open Up" campaign which is trying to force all parties at have open primaries. Mark nails the campaign for the distraction from real reform it is:
I'm afraid that this looks like a plot to remove smaller political parties, neuter the Liberal Democrats, and return British politics to the two-party red/blue politics of the 1950's. No, if they are serious about opening up the political process, why not campaign for multi-member open list constituencies elected using STV? That way, anyone can run, political parties are forced to offer up a range of candidates in order to appeal to a diverse community, and you abolish the safe seat.Instead, this is not so much a missed opportunity as an attempt to hitch a ride on the bandwagon of public revulsion at politics, politicians and all of their works.
Spot on Mark.
Posts
3 comments:
"That way, anyone can run"
Not as a party candidate. No matter how open STV is (and I don't dispute that a choice between different party candidates is a good thing), it would obviously backfire for Labour to run, say, 8 candidates in a 5 member seat, for example, simply because not everyone fills out complete preference votes, and the more people in a list, the more a party risks being affected by this.
Nobody seem to have spotted that the Conservative "open primaries" are a con trick, since Cameron and Central Office choose the shortlist: only STV engages the whole constituency electorate.
"since Cameron and Central Office choose the shortlist: only STV engages the whole constituency electorate."
Parties would still choose short-lists under STV.
Post a Comment