The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7084 p295
February 19, Letters

Council election

Changes needed

From Mr G. J. Weaver, MRPharmS

SIR,—Election of candidates for the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 1999 resulted in 19.6 per cent of voting papers being returned. (In 1998, 25 per cent were returned.) The election process for 1999 is shown in the Table below.
In my opinion, the 12-stage procedure of election is demonstrably an expensive, labour intensive, time wasting exercise with no obvious benefit over acceptance of the first stage conclusion. I can find no year since its inception this system has justified its expense.
I believe the membership needs to read in The Pharmaceutical Journal much more detailed information about the potential candidates and their opinions. The Council's "editing concern" is an acceptable publishing risk and can be countered should the need arise.
The published Council policy of election procedures, the PJ "three question" rule, the 630-word direct mailing rule and branch and regional newsletters restriction are repressive and insufficient, limiting the communication of information on which members nationwide can make informed voting decisions.
Changes need to be made if that 19 per cent statistic is to be raised to a level which can be seen as an acceptable representation of the views of the membership.

G. J. Weaver
Bath