Saturday, 8 September 2018

Does the BBC use of "Corbyn Style" for OMOV mean they believe it's undemocratic?

I'm not a Labour supporter being a left indepenista  but the BBC bias is getting ridiculous,

Take this headline on the BBC Wales web page.


Welsh Labour: Talks on Corbyn-style leadership election rules


Such is the negative reporting on the UK Media  including the BBC that "Corbyn Style" emphasis seems intent on giving the impression that this is some kind of undemocratic Left Wing, plot to  take over the Welsh Leadership

It goes on to say.....

.....Top Welsh Labour officials will discuss whether the next first minister and party leader should be elected under the same system as Jeremy Corbyn.
On Saturday, the Welsh Executive Committee (WEC) will consider whether to back making all votes in the upcoming leadership contest equal.
Currently members' votes are weighed off against votes from MPs and AMs, and votes from unions.
The final decision will be taken at a special conference next weekend.
BBC Wales understands officials will consider a reformed version of the current electoral college rules, which would remove the separate vote for Labour politicians - as well as the one-member-one-vote system used by other parts of the Labour party.
 Pardon  since when making a parties leadership election democratic 
The meeting by the Welsh party executive, who will make a recommendation to the special conference, will consider the results of a consultation by former Torfaen MP Lord Murphy.
Sources have said Lord Murphy has presented the WEC with two options for changing the system - one-member-one-vote (Omov) and a reformed electoral college.
Under the latter, ordinary party members votes would be weighed against votes from unions and socialist societies, but not AMs and MPs - reducing the weight given to votes by politicians.
While the UK party now uses Omov, Welsh Labour has retained the electoral college.
Under that method, Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris was elected Welsh Labour's deputy leader in April, although more rank-and-file members voted for her rival - Cardiff North AM Julie Morgan.
There has been significant criticism over how some of the biggest unions took the decision to back Carolyn Harris without consulting their membership.
It is understood that Unite Wales' decision was taken by "just three or four people".
Mrs Morgan said her vote as an AM is worth 400 times that of a member.
She won the members vote, but lost the trade unions and parliamentarian vote.
Her team have calculated she had more than 65% of the members vote.

Labour's deputy leadership result

How the votes added up:
Affiliates
Carolyn Harris - 20.14%
Julie Morgan - 13.19%
Members
Carolyn Harris - 11.61%
Julie Morgan - 21.73%
MPs, AMs and MEPs:
Carolyn Harris - 19.75%
Julie Morgan - 13.58%
Total:
Carolyn Harris - 51.5%
Julie Morgan - 48.5%
Mrs Morgan spoke of her frustration she lost out to the same system which saw her late husband Rhodri lose out as leader.

He lost out to Alun Michael to become Wales’ then First Secretary in 1999 despite winning the most members' votes.
She said: 
"It frustrates me and upsets me. It's the thought that he went through all that and was desperate for the job as leader and we're still using the same system now that returns what is clearly not a democratic result."
"I am obviously disappointed not to have won but I am very pleased it was very close and of course the key issue is that I won the members vote.
"I overwhelmingly won that members' vote.
"The Parliamentarians vote was 19.75% to 13.5% and that compensated a little but wasn't enough.
"If two or three Parliamentarians voted for me I would have won because their votes are weighted about 400x more.
"This is what I predicted. We could have just edged it but we knew the odds were stacked against us.
She took the majority of the members votes, with 65.2% of those members who voted selecting Mrs Morgan.
"Members have spoken to me and are disappointed because of the vast number of members who voted for me.
"I want to make it clear that I knew these rules when I stood so I am accepting the result, it's just that the campaign continues on my behalf to try to get one-member-one-vote.
"I think this takes that campaign a step further. I think there's more hope now.
"I don't feel down, I feel like I have won because it's got the case for one-member-one-vote out there and very pleased that we did so well there."
Campaigners say Omov - the system under which Jeremy Corbyn first won and then retained the Labour leadership - would be fairer.
The new Welsh Labour leader and presumptive first minister is expected to be named in December when Carwyn Jones steps down.
So far, Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething are the only contenders with enough backing from fellow Labour AMs to make it onto the ballot paper.
Its not for me to say what method Labour in Wales use to elect their leader, but it seems to me the OMOV" is the true  democratic one, the fact that it saw the sort of politician the establishment  including the BBC didn't want, and to imply otherwise seems to be dishonest.

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