ERS election candidates - a view

[Gren Elliot (fatkudu@gmail.com)]

Hi,

Assuming some of you are members of the ERS - here are my notes on their election candidates, which you may or may not see as useful.

Pre-notes:

• They start with listing the 4 candidates recommended by Open Britain.
• They then go onto my independently ordered list based SOLELY on my feelings based on the candidate descriptions on the ERS web-site with my summaries of those descriptions from my perspective.  I don't know any of these people, so there is no secret sauce here.  I intended to focus on STV advocacy, progressive views and diversity, whether I succeeded or not is open to question🙂
• The same thing done for the election panel candidates
• because I don't have any insights - I went with the Open Britain candidates over my own order on the assumption they have more information and thus I trust their opinion more than my own in this case.

All the best,

Gren

---

ERS 2025 board election candidates

Need 6 members (+ 3 for Elections panel)

Open Britain recommend:

If you are a member, please consider voting for the following candidates – who believe the whole movement for Proportional Representation needs to step up a gear:

* Sarah Lewis (3)

* Pablo John (5)

* Sandy Martin (8)

* Shaun Roberts (4)

## Kezia Dugdale

*  Experienced trustee. Committed to electoral reform, devolution and democratic health. Lifetime of politics, activism and public service. Scotland

*  Co-opted to ERS Board 2 years ago

*  Critical and exciting time

*  Director of John Smith Centre 2019 (5 years)- trust in political institutions

*  Led Scottish Labour

## Richard Wood

*  Former ERS board member, Liberal Democrat, priority PR / STV. London/Edinburgh

*  Unlock Democracy Council Member, worked for MP on political reform portfolio

*  Written for New Statesman, politics.co.uk

*  Urgency, work with APPG, Next 4 years

## Sarah Lewis

*  London

*  Chair of Liberal Democrats for London

*  Partner with ERS, MVM, Compass, Unlock Democracy on campaigns and APPG

*  Also push for support outside political bubble - ERS key for that

*  Experience with Philanthropic, Private and NGO sectors

*  Previously Gates Foundation - secured pledge on Gavi (vaccines in low income countries)

## Shaun Roberts

*  Current ERS board member, Leighton Buzzard

*  Urgency -  will campaign to change system this parliament

*  Councillor / Campaigner

*  4 decades of political and non-profit campaigns in UK and abroad

*  picked up skills and knowledge on how to win the argument using the media, digital and grassroots campaigning and I’ll put these to good use on the Board.

## Pablo John

*  Current ERS board member (for 4 years), Brixton, age=26

*   on boards of Politics for the many, Compass, Republic

*   claims contributed to recent success of movement

## James Beckles

*  every vote counts, London

*  local authority councillor, campaigned on equity for Black communities

*  Politics for the Many (Trade Unions for PR and others)

## Christopher Clarkson

*  Long-standing ERS member, ex-MP and APPG chair, bringing cross-party experience and a Conservative pro-PR voice to the Board. Greater Manchester

*  PR focussed Conservative voice

## Sandy Martin

*  Chair of Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, ERS board member for 4 years (2021-), Ipswitch

*  MP for Ipswich 2017-2019, and Shadow Minister for Waste & Recycling

*  Claims part of recent success.

*  Worked with Make Votes Matter, Unlock Democracy, Politics for the Many, Compass, and others

*  extensive writing and presenting skills, a sharp analytic mind, and the stamina to continue campaigning through tough times as well as good

## Joan Ruddock

*  Former MP, Know system Chaired 3 charity boards, Experience campaigner, London, Have time

*   CND chair in past.  Practiced Negotiator

## Chris Finlayson

*  STV and Lords Reform, 6 years ERS board experience (2015-19, 2023-), non-partisan, Wales

*  Wants more activities with rank and file members

*  STV fan

*  Wants to engage with Reform UK whether we like that or not

## Philip Cole

*  STV fan, previous board member, Cheltenham

*  Forget the meaningless cliché about the best being the enemy of the good: we must go for the best.

*  Former secretary of the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform and the Surrey Campaign for Electoral Reform, Chair of Cheltenham for Europe

*  contributor to West England Bylines, mainly on PR

*  recommends Chris Finlayson

*  Gives email address and asks for questions

## Martin Prior

*  ERS for 50 years, and in particular wish to see the size of constituencies addressed, Aberdeen

*  Labour, STV interest - want larger constituencies than current proposals

*  Oppose Lords reform before the Commons

## Jon Walsh

*  former chair, fight for better voting system, Southampton

*  Campaigns staff for AV referendum (Lib Dems), talks at rallies outside parliament

## Andrew Copson

*  Former ERS board member and treasurer, Leicestershire

*  Chief Executive of Humanists UK worked there for 20 years

## Sean Lally-Randall

*  decades of experience delivering accountability, transparency, and governance, Hertfordshire

## John Symons

*  72 years old, Aberdeen

# Election panel

### 1. Lesley Abdela

* recently ERS Elections Panel member.

* Campaigner, journalist, consultant working on democracy and human rights in 50 countries

* ex-ERS vice president for >10 years

* STV advocate

### 2. Chris Terry-Enescu

* ex-ERS Research Officer

* run STV elections for Compass

* studied electoral and democratic systems at a postgraduate level.

* market researcher for NGOs

### 3. David Mathieson

* experience running / monitoring national elections, 20 years on elections panel

### 4. Keith Best

* ERS Chair 5 years, on Council 15 years, barrister, OSCE overseas elections observer, Chair Conservative Action for Electoral Reform (STV)

* Former MP / councillor

### 5. Anthony Tuffin

* if elected, I’ll suggest to my fellow-panellists that we review the ERS’s election rules and procedures etc to see whether we can recommend improvements to make them more democratic.

* Chair of Make Votes Count In West Sussex until last year