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| Cymro |
Solidarity Councilor defects to.......Labour!http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7154934.stmStrange choice of party for a Socialist and member of a pro Independence party to join. |
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| Reluctant Hero |
It has probably been said here before, but a person in that situation, regardless of which party the defection was to or from, should resign their seat and stand for re-election.
The electorate vote for a candidate of a certain party. Half way through the term, they shouldn't end up with the same candidate representing a different party. |
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| Cymro |
Agree | ||||||
| agentmancuso |
No. The electorate vote for an individual, who happens to belong to a particular party.
The electorate might think they are voting for a party, but it's not the case. |
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| agentmancuso |
Re: Solidarity Councilor defects to.......Labour!
If she had the slightest interest in 'independence' she would formerly have been a member of a political party, such as the SNP, not a cheerleader for a minor celebrity. |
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| Reluctant Hero |
OK, if you want to be pedantic about it, the electorate vote for an individual. But why do they vote for a particular individual? There are a whole host of reasons, but one of the biggest reason is because of the party they stand for and therefore the policies they associate themselves with. Now in this case, the councillor must in the lead up to the election, supported Solidarity's policies. Therefore it would be safe to assume that this was the message she was conveying to her potential voters. Now for her to turn round and say that she is basically following policies that are almost opposite to what she got elected on without having to go through a re-election, it is just ludicrous. |
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| iainmhor |
Every movement has its traitors and her decision to join the most traitorous of movements is no great surprise. Solidarity and the SSP are both poor on independence. Anyway both are set to become even more irrelevant with the coming court events. 
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| agentmancuso |
Maybe they should shoot some civilians to prove how committed they are? |
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| agentmancuso |
Not just pedantic, it's a legal point. Also, I think it important for a democracy that attempts by political parties to monopolise the process are resisted; all the fuss to have by-elections when an elected official changes parties (or office) is self-serving theatre, and detrimental to the democratic process.
Yes, of course. But that's why we have regular elections: strictly speaking, it's not to elect people who will do what we want, but to dis-elect people who haven't performed well enough.
We don't elect policies, we elect people, and it is quite correct that they should serve the term for which they were elected. Many of the things politicians do may be ludicrous, but we can't start having by-elections every time.... |
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| agentmancuso |
A further development from within the Sheridan Soviet:
Incidentaly, I notice that The Life of Brian is on television over the Xmas period. |
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| Rinty |
The last post is a non-story. This is not more critical of the party than say the LRC in Labour or 1922 in the tories.
Dinwoodies article is based on the fact that the SWP document is in past tense, but it is a review of what has happened over the previous year and therefore that is the correct tense. I spoke to dinwoodie and gave him the SWP reaction to his proposed story which is, there is no change. On the byelection question I agree with mancusco. I dont see the point of asking Ruth to resign her seat and I dont think that if it happened in reverse we would be calling for the same. Difficult time for Solidarity but the plusses are matching the negatives for me and there are many other developments such as the continued rise in membership and establishing ourselves within the trade union movement, and the ever growing student branches at Scotlands universities. But I am not going to pretend that everything is rosy and perfect, it's not. We are only a year old and much of the last year has been crisis management due to elections, splits etc. I hope to see us emerge stronger and the internal criticism is part of what will allow that to happen. |
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| Holebender |
While I agree that the electorate vote for an individual rather than a party, surely they vote for the individual on the basis of his/her election manifesto. When an elected representative crosses the floor he or she abandons his or her election manifesto and adopts different policies. This alone should be grounds for a by-election. | ||||||