{news} Fw: USGP-INT UK Greens vote to chose single Leader

[Justine McCabe]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Feinstein" <mfeinstein at feinstein.org>
To: "GP-US International Committee" <usgp-int at gp-us.org>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 2:21 PM
Subject: USGP-INT UK Greens vote to chose single Leader


> http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rupert_read/2007/11/the_breakthrough_we_greens_nee.html
>
> The breakthrough we Greens need
> Rupert Read
>
> November 30, 2007 5:30 PM
>
> There has been a fair crack of debate these past several months on this
> site and elsewhere about the Greens' referendum on whether the party
> should elect a single leader. Well, the debate is over, the result has
> just been declared - and the Green party's membership has voted
> overwhelmingly (by 73% to 27%) to elect one.
>
> I'm just delighted about this result; but also really pleased that this
> referendum has afforded the party a prolonged golden opportunity to
> really discuss and think about what we Greens are and what we want in
> the future. I believe that our party will emerge all the stronger from
> it - though it has at times been difficult. Debate has been heated:
> these months have made me realise how committed we are to what we
> believe in in this party - and how hard it is when our ideas on how to
> achieve our goals clash. Furthermore, we've been subject to more intense
> media scrutiny than usual, which has certainly brought its challenges.
>
> The good news as I see it is that we can now reunite, especially because
> the majority for change is bigger than any of us expected. The solid
> turnout - around 50%, the highest by far in the party's history -
> indicates just how much our membership has engaged. The members have
> spoken very clearly.
>
> And the further good news is that, with an accountable, Green-style
> leader, with far stronger checks and balances than other parties have,
> we'll be better placed in future to deal with the greater scrutiny that
> we will undoubtedly be under - and to take advantage of the greater
> opportunities to put the Green message out.
>
> The debate on leadership has not been about policy. It has been about
> how best, strategically and tactically, to achieve the Green
> breakthrough that all of us so dearly want, that was promised to us in
> 1989, and that we as a party may now begin to deliver in a big way. Both
> campaigns in this referendum have agreed on where we want to see the
> party go next: greater representation at all elected levels, a
> breakthrough into Westminster, a Green party with a clear sense of
> direction and purpose - and ultimately a radical and positive impact,
> socially and ecologically.
>
> Having a single leader will make it far easier for the mainstream media
> to treat us on an equal footing with the other parties. That's critical
> to our hopes of rapidly growing the Green party's support base and of
> getting MPs elected at the next election, even under the
> unrepresentative first past the post system, as we fully intend to do.
>
> Who will our first leader be? Much too soon to say. The election
> preparations will not even begin until well into the New Year. For now,
> what I know is that today's landmark vote has set a direction of travel
> for our party. We will soon be in a position to battle the new Lib Dem
> leader, David Cameron and Gordon Brown on an equal footing.
>
>
>
> http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200711/b477f4ed-a227-45a6-aa6e-6f7dbde4f7a3.htm
>
> Greens opt to have a leader
>
> The Green Party has opted to have an elected leadership team for the
> first time in it history.
>
> The results of a ballot of members, announced on Friday, found nearly
> three-quarters deciding to end the male and female principal speakers
> system.
>
> On a turnout of more than half of the party's membership in England and
> Wales, 73 per cent voted in favour of switching to either having a
> leader and deputy leader or two co-leaders.
>
> Following years of debate about whether it was holding the party back,
> just 27 per cent voted to maintain the status quo.
>
> Principal speaker Caroline Lucas, who campaigned for a change, said she
> was "delighted" with the outcome.
>
> "The party can now move forward together and onto the job in hand," she
> said.
>
> "We have an urgent green message to communicate and many votes to win.
>
> "This is a fantastic day for the Green Party and will help ensure we
> have a party that is understandable, recognisable and effective.
>
> "But we now need to demonstrate to all our members, regardless of which
> way they voted, that this is not about weakening our principles, it's
> about strengthening our effectiveness."
>
> Male principal speaker Derek Wall, who opposed the plan, accepted the
> result and said the Greens must now find a solution that meets its needs.
>
> "We need a Green Party which is effective and empowering, doing things
> differently from the top-down traditional politics that turns voters
> off," he said.
>
> "The result of this referendum challenges the party to create a
> leadership structure that is true to green ideals.
>
> "It has put our future leaders on notice that the membership expects a
> more focused, more effective party, with a leadership team that is truly
> accountable to the membership in a real and effective manner."
>
>
> http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,,2219836,00.html
>
> Green party decides it should have a leader
>
> Haroon Siddique
> Friday November 30, 2007
> Guardian Unlimited
>
>
> Green party members have voted to have a party leader for the first
> time, it was announced today.
>
> Almost three quarters of voters backed scrapping the current structure -
> two "principal speakers", a man and a woman - and replacing it with the
> conventional arrangement of leader and deputy leader.
>
> One of the current principal speakers, Caroline Lucas, said she was
> "delighted" with the result.
>
> "This is a fantastic day for the Green party and will help ensure we
> have a party that is understandable, recognisable and effective," she 
> said.
>
> "But we now need to demonstrate to all our members, regardless of which
> way they voted, that this is not about weakening our principles, it's
> about strengthening our effectiveness."
>
> The other principal speaker, Derek Wall, who had opposed the change in
> structure, warned that the party needed to do things "differently from
> the top-down traditional politics that turns voters off".
>
> He added: "The result of this referendum challenges the party to create
> a leadership structure that is true to green ideals.
>
> "It has put our future leaders on notice that the membership expects a
> more focused, more effective party, with a leadership team that is truly
> accountable to the membership in a real and effective manner."
>
> More than half of the party's members cast votes and 73% backed changing
> the leadership structure, comfortably above the two-thirds majority
> needed to carry the motion. Ballots for the positions will now be held
> next autumn, when the terms of the current principal speakers expire.
>
> Leadership votes will be held every two years with individuals limited
> to a maximum of five terms in office.
>
> The impetus for the ballot came after a number of party members
> expressed concerns that the lack of a figurehead was damaging the
> profile of the Greens.
>
> Many have blamed the lack of an identifiable leader on the party's
> failure to win any parliamentary seats, despite climate change being
> high on the political agenda.
>
> "Most people don't relate to abstract concepts; rather they relate to
> the people who espouse and embody them," Lucas wrote in SocietyGuardian
> in September.
>
> "A leader and deputy leader, or two co-leaders, would act as
> recognisable and inspiring voices for the thousands of dedicated party
> activists who collectively make the party what it is."
>
> But the "Green empowerment" campaign, which counted Wall among its
> members, was striving "to uphold the Green party's long-standing
> commitment to non-hierarchical structures and participatory democracy".
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