Labour Party Leadership (UK)-Discussion

1
Hello,

I have already opened a thread specifically for the astrological data and related charts of the contenders in the leadership election.

http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5345

This thread is being created for astrological discussion of the charts displayed or any other thoughts regarding the astrology of the the Labour leadership contest.

Thanks

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

2
I thought some of you might be interested in the the rules for the Labour party leadership as these are quite complicated!

Initial Support from MPs
Firstly, leadership contenders have to be nominated by 12.5% of the Parliamentary Labour Party, which following the general election means 33 MPs.

Who votes?
Labour party leaders are not just elected by MPs! Labour MPs, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), party members and members of affiliated organisations, such as trades unions and socialist societies, are all entitled to vote in the election. Nearly a million people voted in the last contested election, in 1994.

Tripartite Electoral College
The vote is broken down into three sections, known as an electoral college. Labour MPs and MEPs, party members and members of affiliate organisations are all balloted individually and the results from the separate categories each make up a third of the final result. For example, in 1994, Tony Blair won the backing of 60% of MPs/MEPs, 58% of party members and 52% of affiliate organisations.

Election by Alternative Vote System
The Labour leader is likely to be elected under the Alternative Vote system. This ensures the winning candidate obtains over 50% through preferential voting. Voters can select multiple candidates in order of preference. The candidates with the least votes are successively eliminated and and their second preferences distributed to other candidates until a clear leader emerges. This is the voting system being proposed by the current coalition government in a forthcoming referendum on electoral reform.

The Result?
The National Executive Committee of the Labour party have announced that the result of the leadership election will be announced at the Labour Party Conference on September 25th 2010. So this is the operative to look for transits!

Who is leader in the meantime?
Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman is acting leader until the election takes place. She will take centre stage at prime minister's questions and other big Parliamentary occasions.

Who is standing?
The following Labour MPs have announced their candidacy:

1 David Miliband
2 Ed Balls
3 Ed Miliband
4 Andy Burnham
5 John McDonnell
6 Diane Abbott
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

3
The deadline for MPs to be nominated to the Labour leadership closed at 12:00 Noon today. Candidates were required to meet the minimum threshold of 33 MPs (12.5% of the Parliamentary party). The successful candidates going forward to the full vote are:

David Miliband
Ed Miliband
Ed Balls
Andy Burnham
Dianne Abbott

The left wing candidate John McDonnell withdrew his candidacy this morning after being unable to obtain the required minimum support from MPs. He immediately announced his support for fellow left winger Dianne Abbott. Dianne Abbott just managed to meet the minimum threshold. She was assisted by many MP's who did not necessarily support her personally but who wanted to see more diversity in the final shortlist. Hence Harriet Harman announced her support for Dianne Abbott yesterday and fellow candidate David Miliband gave his vote to Abbott too.

As noted above the election will be by the Alternative Vote or preferential voting system. Second preference votes will be crucial in deciding who wins the contest.

I have already displayed all the leadership candidates charts on the previous thread. I will be offering analysis of their charts over the next few months.

http://skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5345
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly