The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7250 p729
24 May 2003

Society summary

Return to first-past-the-post election system leads to four changes on Council

The 2003 election of seven members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council has resulted in four changes in the Council's composition. After a quarter of a century of the single transferable vote system, the election was the first to return to the first-past-the-post method, with each elector having seven votes.

Re-elected: (left to right) Alison Ewing, Nicola Gray and Linda Stone

The only retiring candidates who successfully sought re-election were Alison Ewing, Nicola Gray and Linda Stone. They are joined on the Council by new members Martin Astbury, Douglas Simpson, Noel Wicks and Nicholas Wood.

Mr Simpson, Mr Wicks and Mr Wood are three of seven candidates who stood under the "Save our Society" banner. They and Mr Astbury replace Hassan Argomandkhah, Peter Curphey and Kirit Patel, who were unsuccessful in the election, and Dr Gordon Appelbe, who has retired from the Council.

Mr Wood is returning to the Council after a six-year absence. He was previously a member from 1985 to 1997, including service as vice-president (1992–93) and president (1993–94). Mr Wood is a community pharmacist and administrator from Brentwood, Essex.

Mr Astbury is a community locum pharmacist from Chester. Mr Simpson, who lives in Beckenham, is a freelance pharmaceutical journalist and consultant, and a former editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal. Mr Wicks, from Stirling, is an independent community pharmacist proprietor who also works as a locum and consultant. He is already a member of the Society's Scottish Executive and is a past president of the British Pharmaceutical Students Association.

Hassan Argomandkhah has lost his seat after serving two three-year terms on the Council. He is a proprietor community pharmacist and a part-time teacher practitioner at the Liverpool school of pharmacy.

Peter Curphey, an independent pharmacy proprietor in the Isle of Man, leaves the Council after a total of 15 years' service, including service as vice-president (1996–97) and president (1997–98).

Kirit Patel, chairman of the Day Lewis group of pharmacies, was seeking re-election for the first time, having first been elected three years ago. Despite his brief Council service he was elected Treasurer of the Society a year ago.

The other unsuccessful candidates in the election were Dr Shaqil Chaudary, Professor Bill Dawson, Maurice Hickey, Bob Gartside, Dr Gordon Geddes, John Jolley and Peter Schofield.

Out of the 45,538 voting papers issued, 10,222 were returned, of which 19 were disallowed. The percentage of voting papers returned was 22.4, compared with 20.1 per cent in 2002, 21.2 per cent in 2001 and 19.6 per cent in 2000.

Official Notice, p736