[FREEDEMS] Extraordinary Party Convention (Leadership election)

[Eðo Grischun]

** Extraordinary/Exceptional Party Convention**

An Exceptional Convention is being called by myself and the Party Secretary to fill the role of Party President following my resignation of same.

The Election period will begin at 00.01 (Talossa Time) on Thursday 15th April 2021

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN FROM NOW UNTIL THE ELECTION BEGINS. Nominations should be made in the following thread:
https://freedems.proboards.com/thread/122/extraordinary-exceptional-convention


The election period shall close at 00.00 (Talossa Time) on Thursday 29th April 2021

***

From the party constitution:

"An Exceptional Convention may be called ... by a simple majority vote of the party's officers."

and

"All members of the party shall be eligible to both vote in elections to and stand for the above offices. Fourteen days' notice should be given prior to these elections being held on the forum used for conducting party business, and nominations should open when this notice is given."

[Eðo Grischun]

To members of the Free Democrats of Talossa:


I have recently announced, on another FreeDem forum, that I will be standing down as Party President. In the past year I have been more involved in front line work with my trade union and recently I was elected as the Chair of my local branch in Glasgow (which is also the de facto branch for the whole of Scotland). It is a great opportunity, but it comes with a massive level of responsibility and it is also a major time suck. Right now, I am leading a fight against two city councils and the Scottish Government on a policy that negatively impacts our members, building a case against a city council on a different major issue, became a key player in two big legal battles against a well known multinational corporation, attending licensing hearings with members and defending their licences and livelihoods, as well as the day to day minutiae that comes with the role. Not to mention doing my actual day job that pays the bills and stuff. It is an exciting time for me with lots of great stuff happening, but I am the most busy and most tired I have ever been in my life. Unfortunately, at times like these, as we have seen many times with other Talossans, it is Talossan work that ends up needing to give. I will not be able to commit the same levels of time, energy and focus to Talossa as I usually do.

I am not giving up my citizenship, nor am I leaving the Freedems, nor am I stepping down from the Senate, nor resigning from Ministries, nor even wanting to walk away from front line politics completely (...at least, not yet :o ). A lot of this is all just down to bad timing. I anticipate that as the world edges closer to normality following the events of the past year, that things for me will smooth out and become more manageable. I have been promised by my vice chair and more experienced committee members that we are just going through an unusually busy time right now. So, eventually, I will be back to being more involved in Talossa, I hope.

However, right now, it would be wrong of me to keep on keeping on. I would be putting the party's electoral chances in jeopardy by not alerting you all to what is going on and by not taking a step back. It would be grossly negligent and irresponsible of me to take no course of action here on this.

An Extraordinary Convention has been called to fill the role that I am leaving (above post). I encourage all interested party members to come forward and support the party and help build what comes next for us.

With apologies to all.
Still yours for Talossa.
Eddie.

[Miestră Schivă, UrN]

As Party Secretary, I endorse this call for an emergency convention, though I am absolutely disappointed that Eðo won't be leading the charge into the next election. For those interested, I intend to remain as Party Secretary and play a supporting role for the incoming President.