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Coventry City Council

Question: How do you get selected to run for election? Would you ever change party to stay being a cllr?

Asked by jamie22 to David, Ed, Jim, Kevin, Lynnette, Rae on 7 Oct 2010 in Categories: .

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  • Photo: Jim O'BoyleJim O'Boyle answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    In the Labour Party, you have to be interviewed, tested and show committment to the Party. You then go on a list for areas to choose from who their candidate should be. Then you stand in the election proper which I’m good at as I’ve done it 6 times!! I would never change party to stay being a Councillor. That would be cynical and would show up someone to be more interested in themself than their constituents.

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  • Photo: David SkinnerDavid Skinner answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    You must normally be a member of a Party- unless you stand as an Independent, which can be very good, but also very demanding.

    You help the Party in calling on residents, delivering liteature, etc, and then put your name forward if you wish to be a candidate. There is a pretty rigorous selection procedure. If you are chosen, you may still just lose at the actual election, but that is life. You have to get on with it.

    I would never join another Party. The country has enormous problems, and the Conservative Party makes mistakes like everyone else, but I think it is nearer to reality than others.

    I try always to be polite, but feel that some other people, including Councillors, mean well, but are hopelessly naive. They simply do not understand how the really hard brutal world works. But I have seen a lot more of life, in different places, than most people.

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  • Photo: Lynnette KellyLynnette Kelly answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    I would NEVER change party just to stay being a councillor. Those that do are showing they have no principles and care more about themselves than anything else.
    To get selected to run for an election, you have to be an active member of the party, for example by doing work to help in someone else’s campaign, and then you have to get the local members to vote for you and agree to have you as a candidate.
    Are you thinking of being a councillor Jamie?

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  • Photo: Ed RuaneEd Ruane answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    To become a councillor you have to be a member of a political party, such as Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, etc, and you have to put yourself forward as wanting to stand, its other local party members who decide and vote for you to stand as a candidate. So you become for example the Labour Party candiate for a particular area in Coventry often referred to as wards, there are 18 wards in total in Coventry and there are 3 councillors who represent a ward at anyone time.

    Sorry to go into so much detail but that’s the best way I can describe the whole process, maybe it should change to something like the X factor ๐Ÿ˜‰ only kidding.

    I’d never change party, I have always shared the same values as the Labour party from a very young age, I think thats how I was brought up by my parents, if I did I don’t think they would ever speak to me again ๐Ÿ˜‰

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  • Photo: Kevin FosterKevin Foster answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    In my case I joined the Conservative Party at 16 and was involved for many years before first standing for election to the city Council in 2001. After a lot of leafleting and canvassing for others I was asked if I would be interested in being a candidate myself. I had to fill an application form in and go for an interview before being added to a list of approved Conservative candidates. Once on that list wards can interview you to be their candidate.

    It is possible to stand as an independent and you only need 10 voters to sign nomination papers to stand in an election. Yet in reality most Councillors are elected via the block votes that go to their political party and out of 54 Coventry Councillors, only 2 are not Conservative or Labour Party Members.

    If you are interested in becoming a Councillor then you can shadow an existing one to see what the work entails and whether it is something you would wish to do. The youngest candidate on my party’s approved list has just turned 18 so there are opportunities available.

    Finally would I change party to stay as a Councillor? No, whilst at times people may change parties for philosophical reason or because they change their stance on a particular issue that is close to the heart of the person concerned. There are plenty of examples of people changing parties in the hope of getting elected/re-elected, but very few do as rightly most parties want an idea that you are committed to their cause, not your own career. I can think of one who recently got elected having changed parties several times.

    There are circumstances under which I might change my vote and support someone else, e.g If I lived in a ward where the BNP might be elected by a few votes over another mainstream party. Yet just changing to save your seat is shallow.

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  • Photo: Rachel LancasterRachel Lancaster answered on 7 Oct 2010:

    I would never change party to remain a councillor, I’d rather remain loyal to the labour party than be a councillor.

    With Labour you have to be member for 2 years, and then you can apply to go onto the municipal panel, thatโ€™s a list of prospective candidates.
    To get on that list you are interviewed by a panel of 3 politicians from your own party from other councils.
    If you are successful you get put on the list & any ward in Coventry can look at that list and invite you to be on their shortlist & come to their selection meeting, and basically be interviewed by them as to why you should stand as a representative for their ward. They then vote whether to select you as their candidate.

    All this usually takes place from the September before the election in May and of course the final test is whether the people of that ward elect you

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