Party Leader nominations and candidacies

[Lüc]

So this is an important one. We are also electing a Party Leader to lead the Moderate Radicals from the 49th Cosa elections to the MRPT Congress before the 51th Cosa (so roughly January 2016 to May 2017).

If you are willing to jump in the race, or nominate anyone else for the position, please do so in this thread.

As the outcoming Party Leader, I will shortly let the Party know what I intend to do as far as the elections are concerned. In the meantime, I heartily encourage anyone who feels like they can do a good job at the helm of the MRPT to step forward and share their views for a better Talossa.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Dec 13, 2015 21:42:06 GMT 1 Lüc said:

As the outcoming Party Leader, I will shortly let the Party know what I intend to do as far as the elections are concerned. In the meantime, I heartily encourage anyone who feels like they can do a good job at the helm of the MRPT to step forward and share their views for a better Talossa.

Is this meant to say you will not seek reelection?  Otherwise, I nominate Lüc as Party Leader.

[Lüc]

Well I'm willing to seek reelection, but if elected, I want to make it clear that I'm not inclined to enter in coalition deals with any other party. We'll take a full term resting and reshaping ourselves on the crossbenches providing external support to the government of the day on a case-by-case basis. We'll deliver our agenda anyway, but not from inside the government. I will not stop any MRPTer who wishes to seek a Cabinet post in someone else's cabinet (which is anyway subject to a vote by the party members) but nevertheless, if elected, I will strongly advocate for a lay-low crossbench term. Sometimes supporting a minority cabinet from the outside can get us more than being inside it (and faring very badly anyway).

[Lüc]

So, anyway: I am accepting your nomination, Zane, but I expect the party to understand what voting me would imply: a term on the crossbenches, no official coalition, perhaps seeing if we can get to the 50th Cosa with a strong team of active members and an emphasis on having active MCs rather than put a lot of our best people in the Senate.

[Ian Plätschisch]

I can't say I disagree with the fundamentals of your plan. However, I see a somewhat different future, so I also nominate myself, so I can lay out that future for the party to look at. I very much respect your accomplishments as Party Leader, so my candidacy is no indication of my confidence in another term of your leadership (which I'm sure would be very successful). I also understand I am still pretty new here, and in no way mean to usurp your position.

I would not be so fast to rule out any coalition deal. Another coalition with the FDT is unlikely, but I would be OK negotiating with the RUMP (or the FDT I guess). I have not had any interactions with AD which have left the bad taste every else in the party seems to have, and perhaps this shows my inexperience, but I see no reason to object to the RUMP simply because of the questionable personal character of it's leader. I say we keep our options open, depending on election results and negotiations turn out.

Of course, a term on the crossbenches would still be a fine option; as you are certainly right in that we need to encourage activity internally (though we could also do so in a coalition with the RUMP, as they have plenty of capable members). If we find ourselves unable to get the RUMP to agree to a deal we find favorable, then our manifesto and our principles are far more important. If we did go to the Crossbenches (an option which, again, I have no objections to), I agree supporting the government from the outside would be the correct course of action.

I don't think Talossa as a whole would benefit from a minority government. Certainly the MRPT should not pursue a coalition to the point of being trampled on, but AD is right that the current government has been found wanting in some things. A minority government would be in no better position.

I don't see the problem with having good MRPTers in the Senate. Senators can still be Ministers and propose legislation, after all. As long as we have MCs to hold our seats, I find it favorable to hold many Senate seats. Senators have more power per person than MCs, after all.

Our ideas are not wildly different, but different enough I wanted to give the party an alternative to your "lay-low" policy.

[Glüc]

I'm definitely not running for party leader, but since we are discussing this here I do think that if we should be willing to take our responsibility for a cabinet, even if its in a reduced role. At the same time if we are going to support a cabinet we might as well have some influence on their policy (thats part of why people would vote for us right?) Plus I feel its more democratic if a government does not have the support of a majority. (And frankly neither a single party FDT nor a single party RUMP government would have my support.) So Im not really a fan of a term as crossbenchers. Anyway, I could support a coalition with both the RUMP or the FDA.

[Ian Plätschisch]

Lets migrate this discussion to a thread in the Congress hall;

modrads.proboards.com/thread/299/discussion-party-leader