“We are the home for all students who share Labour’s values of equality, democracy and social justice.” Labour Students

As students we should be leading the charge to bring open and transparent democracy across the Labour movement. There are no excuses for the closed-shop elections which have taken place in Labour Students.

In Glasgow last year, Young Labour held a closely fought election for its Chairperson, along with another contested election for its NEC Representative. So not every Young Labour member got to vote, but the delegates that went at least got a choice. They were presented with two or more capable, willing and campaigning candidates to choose between – and the election itself was also covered on LabourList and a few other Labour Blogs. Chair of Young Labour is unpaid, and following the election, the organisation battled hard to get its long-awaited, paid, staff support. At the very same conference, its sister organisation, Labour Students held its own ‘elections’ – for its 3 paid national officers. Those elections were uncontested – a one off?

Nominations for candidates wanting to stand in the 2012 Labour Students elections have now closed. The elections will be held at Labour Students Conference 2012 at ‘some point’ in February. Three full-time, paid officers of the organisation – its National Chair, National Secretary and Campaigns & Membership Officer – will all be ‘elected’ next month but you’ll struggle to find out a few basic things. Where and when for starters. A month to go until the event and there is no date. Go on Labour Students’ brand new website and you won’t even find a venue. With a month to go, deciding a location so late will mean many Labour Clubs will have to spend over the odds to get there – or worse, won’t go at all. Considering the organisation prides itself on its values of democracy – closing nominations for elections before a venue and dates have been announced is in the realms of the bizarre. And after all of this, let alone not having a clue when the elections are actually going to be – you’d have a hard job knowing that they existed or that you could put yourself forward as a candidate. The first and only mention of these elections was contained in Labour Students December email newsletter.

In the email there’s enough space to plug plenty of stuff – there’s even enough space to congratulate Labour’s newest MP, Seema Malhotra, on her victory in the recent by-election. Below all of this is the first mention of Labour Students Conference – and in the very last sentence, it mentions a link for deadlines for the elections process. No real information, no support, no guides, no dates, no advertising. Nothing. Zero.

Made easy – the only mention of the 2012 Labour Students elections for 3 full-time, paid officers of the organisation.

Labour Students’ holds two ‘democratic’ events a year. The first is the organisation’s National Council event, held in December – this year in which it debated policy for just an hour and a half out of a ten-hour scheduled weekend-long event. The second is the upcoming vaguely advertised National Conference. That’s it. 3 full-time paid officers, and all the democracy we got was a one-line sentence with a link in it. Go on to the website – there’s no mention of the elections in the news section, there’s no mention on Twitter or on Facebook either. If Labour Students truly believes what it says – that it stands for the value of democracy – then elections should be free and fair. There is no excuse. Uncontested elections every year are no coincidence.

As students we should be leading the charge to bring open and transparent democracy across the Labour movement. Labour Clubs all over the country use social media to engage with their members, they work hard to ensure that they stick to their constitutions and they encourage new members to get involved, to become the leaders of their organisations. We cannot go preaching to the National Union of Students, or to the Labour leadership about our values of democracy if we can’t even stage our own democratic events and elections. Labour Students needs to get its act together – no more false promises. Labour Students needs to be the organisation that challenges undemocratic practices in our universities, our party, our student’s unions and our national union. Labour Students must move forward with elections – not selections.