Dear All
If I was to say the name Robert Brown, you would probably say who?
Robert Brown is a list MSP for Glasgow and with that additional piece of information you would probably none the wiser.
He is however one of the most senior Liberal Democrats MSP’s at Holyrood, having been there since 1999.
A long time!
But because the list system ranking is decided by party members, he is struggling to hold on to his list spot.
The nature of the list system means that in some cases the best candidates in a party don’t automatically get elected to public office.
If they fail to get elected first past the post or don’t achieve a high enough ranking they are out.
Some people however are only list candidates because they don’t have a constituency seat to fight being either rejected by branch members or not standing for a FPP spot in the first place.
The truth of the matter is that some people in political parties are unelectable and will always be rejected by the public.
Political survival depends on popularity in their party regarding the list.
So, if reports are true then Katy Gordon who came second in the Glasgow North Westminster seat polling 9,283 has bumped Robert Brown off the top spot on the list.
She has never been elected to public office but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, experience doesn’t translate into someone being a good MSP.
If Brown is bumped to number two on the list then the Lib Dems would have to work incredibly hard to get two seats on the Glasgow list.
Labour as usual is expected to dominate practically all FPP seats in Glasgow and polling suggests that like the Westminster election they will have a clean sweep.
During the Westminster election, it became clear to me that other parties didn’t know how to campaign effectively and their material was very poor, almost unreadable.
So Robert Brown who struggles to impress doesn’t even have the luxury of a fallback position on the list unless a miracle happens.
And the Labour Party has outlawed miracles!
At 62, if unsuccessful this will probably see his career in front line politics at Holyrood end completely.
The list system in my opinion is not fair and secure, as reports suggest can be open to vote rigging by candidates signing up hundreds of members to influence the result to allow them to achieve political office.
Robert Brown had a good run but now its over!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
If I was to say the name Robert Brown, you would probably say who?
Robert Brown is a list MSP for Glasgow and with that additional piece of information you would probably none the wiser.
He is however one of the most senior Liberal Democrats MSP’s at Holyrood, having been there since 1999.
A long time!
But because the list system ranking is decided by party members, he is struggling to hold on to his list spot.
The nature of the list system means that in some cases the best candidates in a party don’t automatically get elected to public office.
If they fail to get elected first past the post or don’t achieve a high enough ranking they are out.
Some people however are only list candidates because they don’t have a constituency seat to fight being either rejected by branch members or not standing for a FPP spot in the first place.
The truth of the matter is that some people in political parties are unelectable and will always be rejected by the public.
Political survival depends on popularity in their party regarding the list.
So, if reports are true then Katy Gordon who came second in the Glasgow North Westminster seat polling 9,283 has bumped Robert Brown off the top spot on the list.
She has never been elected to public office but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, experience doesn’t translate into someone being a good MSP.
If Brown is bumped to number two on the list then the Lib Dems would have to work incredibly hard to get two seats on the Glasgow list.
Labour as usual is expected to dominate practically all FPP seats in Glasgow and polling suggests that like the Westminster election they will have a clean sweep.
During the Westminster election, it became clear to me that other parties didn’t know how to campaign effectively and their material was very poor, almost unreadable.
So Robert Brown who struggles to impress doesn’t even have the luxury of a fallback position on the list unless a miracle happens.
And the Labour Party has outlawed miracles!
At 62, if unsuccessful this will probably see his career in front line politics at Holyrood end completely.
The list system in my opinion is not fair and secure, as reports suggest can be open to vote rigging by candidates signing up hundreds of members to influence the result to allow them to achieve political office.
Robert Brown had a good run but now its over!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
Don't follow what the problem is if she got more votes than him. It's democracy in action. The Human Rights violation is what exactly?
Post a Comment