Dubsky: System stacked against independent candidates
kildare |
eu |
news report 
Saturday May 08, 2004 12:05
by Eoin Dubsky
info at votedubsky dot com
Whitewalls, Ballymoney, Gorey, Co. Wexford
(087) 6941060
Peace campaigner and environmentalist Eoin Dubsky is running for election to the European Parliament and he needs your help. Because he is running as an independent candidate in the East (Leinster) constituency for the European election, he needs 60 registered voters from the area to sign up as "assenters" endorsing his campaign. The authorities have made it quite difficult, where you need to sign the nomination form in the County Council head office during office hours next week only , and not including lunch.
The old deposit system (£500 or so?) was found to be unconstitutional. If you're in an Irish political party you just fill out a nomination paper and attach a document from your party saying that you're their candidate. If you're an independent (like me) you need to get 60 "assenters" (registered voters in the constituency) to go into their Local Authority's HQ next week and sign up to endorse your nomination.
The system isn't that independent-friendly, as I was only sent the nomination papers yesterday (Friday) and I've got to leave it in with the returning officer's office of each Local Authority in the constituency (11 in total). If people want to sign up to support me (and hopefully some of you will) they've got to go during office hours, and still they might not catch the returning officer (who in fairness is really busy right now). Then I have to pick up all these nomination papers myself in person on Friday and bring them to the chief returning officer for Leinster.
I don't have the resources - what independent candidate would - to get around to all 11 Local Authority head offices next week, so I'm just concentrating on Wexford, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Kildare. Indeed, the message below is make the rounds (hopefully!) in Co. Kildare this weekend, and I would be grateful if you would pass it on too:
Please take 30 minutes out of your week to support the only MEP candidate who is running on a radical anti-imperialist and environmental platform!
Here's what you need:
· Official photo ID like a driver's license, passport or student ID.
· You must be a registered voter (called "elector") in the constituency. If you've voted before or registered in Co. Kildare you should be fine.
· Bring a friend, or a whole group of people to sign up with you!
Here's what's involved:
5. Take a bus to Kildare County Council Head Office, beside the Naas General Hospital.
6. At the reception explain that you want to sign up as an "assenter" for Eoin Dubsky's European Election nomination. They should direct you to the Local Officer or Registrar (Charlie, Avril Cummins, or Michael Cahill).
7. They'll check your ID against the register of voters, and if it looks okay they'll let you sign up.
8. You're almost done! Now just email, phone or txt Eoin to let him keep track of numbers (email: info@votedubsky.com or phone/txt: 087 6941060).
Ideally try to do this at the very start of the week. There are three European Parliament seats for the Leinster constituency, and Eoin can win one of them with your help. If you have any free time and would like to help out please visit votedubsky.com or phone 087 6941060 to get in touch.
Comments (5 of 5)
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You say the odds are stacked against independent candidates. How exactly do you come to this conclusion. The rules are there to stop frivolous candidates. (I'm certainly not suggesting that about you). Lets face it if you can't muster 60 supporters (one would expect any half decent candidate to have that many canvassers, or at least that many friends and family members) then why would you seek election in the first place. I've yet to see a Euro candidate elected with less than 60 supporters.
Stop whinging and get on with it. Lets see how many supporters you really have on June 11
It is not true for Eoin to say he is the only radical candidate with regards imperialism and environment.I can only speak for my own party and particularly our own candidate in Wexford and the East, John Dwyer.I recently heard him speak impressively about Sinn Feins opposition to the war, ongoing imperial occupations and Irelands role in it.Also on environmental issues particularly in the East constituency with that bloody time bomb, Sellafield on the doorstep.
I can appreciate his motivation to bring his anti-war platform to a European level but would the odds be far more in his favour if he started small and ran for the locals? Either way -Good Luck
Sorry Aran, that was unfair of me. I don't know enough about John's campaign. Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD has been a strong voice against the Iraq war and occupation in the Dail, and he's always forwarded my questions regarding Shannon Airport and so on as a Written Question to Minister Brian Cowen in a flash.
Local politicians have little or no power over many of the issues which motivate me to run for the European elections. On local issues anyway, if Local Agenda 21 actually was taken seriously, you might get as much done as a local activist or campaigner, as you could as a local politician. Unfortunately though, on say incinerators or GM food, both citizens and their local representatives are ignored by government. The European Parliament now has co-decision making power on issues like the Environment and Consumer Protection, and Social Exclusion and Public Health, and Privacy and Data Protection. It also has a consultative role on matters of foreign policy, international relations, human rights and militarism.
While very supportive of Eoin personally, and the position and platform he will be campaigning on, I have to ask him to please, please back down from running.
With all due respect to him, he is going to get a vote that is derisory. A month from polling day and he has, unless I miss my guess, no money worth talking about and no election team in place. To be anything more than a name on a ballot paper he needs posters, he needs some sort of limited canvass or leaflet drop. Is he going to be able to do this?
My fear, and there is nothing to suggest this is unfounded, is that Eoin will get a negligible vote, we’re talking less than 1 to 2% of the vote. This will be used to ‘expose’ the environmentalist, anti-war movement as being without electoral support. Eoin is going to get hammered not just by the main parties, but by Barrett as well and frankly, it will make us look extremely weak.
I think Eoin knows he’s not going to win the seat, so the only other reason to run is either as a show of strength, or because you’re running on a single issue and by doing so making it part of the election debate.
He’s not going to get enough votes for the former, and he’s not going to be able to have a big enough campaign for the latter.
This is not to say I am opposed to the idea of Eoin running. If this campaign had been announced three months back, he’d asked for supporters and fundraising, got a plan of some sort on paper, then not only would I be backing his campaign, I’d probably be getting involved. At this stage though, it’s too little, too late.
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