From Mr C. W. Hodgson, MRPharmS
SIR,—We are approaching the time of the year when the membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will be offered the opportunity to vote for the candidates that they would like to see represent them on the Council. Inevitably, a large proportion of the membership will not cast a vote for a variety of different reasons. Some will not vote out of apathy but I suspect in a large proportion of cases, the membership will decline to vote because they feel that they simply do not know enough about the candidate or their policies to be able to make a rational judgment. Prospective candidates write statements about themselves, their policies and interests, but the content of these statements is limited and does not allow the opportunity for direct interactive discussion with the voter. Once the candidate has been voted on to the Council, the membership has no idea how that member votes on issues discussed. There is no recorded voting system to allow the membership to judge for themselves whether the elected Council members have kept good faith with their election promises.
Finally, the membership has no control over the choice of President. This decision is made internally and secretly.
Given these flaws in the voting system, is it surprising that the membership appears apathetic when it comes to voting at the Council elections?
Clive Hodgson
Drug Information Pharmacist, South Devon Healthcare
As reported in The Journal of December 11, 1999 (p942), the election of the President and other officers is in future to be held in public.—EDITOR.