Perhaps it is symptomatic of a lily-livered reluctance to ‘stand up and be counted’, but I have a real dislike of voting by ‘show of hands’ when electing people to fulfil important roles.
Having the right person in the right job is vital for the successful operation of any organisation, and a secret ballot, which gives people the chance to vote for the person they believe will do the job best without fear of present embarrassment or future pressure, should therefore to my mind be the rule rather than the exception.
Thus it was at yesterday’s Annual Meeting of the Council, at which such matters are decided, I found myself standing up as a lone Conservative among the Independents, to demand a ballot for the election of the Chairman of the important Development Committee. (According to Council procedure at least seven Members must stand up in the Chamber to request a ballot).
It was interesting to note that assuming the Independents all voted for their preferred candidate, (who one has to assume voted for himself) the votes of at least five Liberal Democrats or Conservatives were at variance with their political party’s stated preference, (two further Members abstained.) Would all these dissidents have expressed their real views in an open forum? Even in the relatively politically benign atmosphere at Babergh I very much doubt it!
I should add that my strong preference for what is clearly a more democratic process should not be read as an indication of my voting intentions. It would be dangerous for any reader of this web-log (or anyone else for that matter) to automatically assume that I was among the rebels!
(Interestingly when trying to find a suitable picture for this post I discovered that in the very democratic (!!!) Cuban assembly votes are generally taken by show of hands. What more need one say?)
