Liberal Youth: now that the counting is over

It's been a long election campaign from the perspective of this Returning Officer.

I had been warned that, traditionally, Liberal Youth elections tended to present some unusual challenges, especially by previous Liberal Youth Returning Officers. However, a promise was a promise...

And yet, in many ways, these elections have been quite easy to administrate, especially given the surprisingly small number of serious rule breaches. Whilst there have been, and there is no point in evading this, some extremely unfortunate incidents linked to naivety, impulsiveness and occasional character failures, these are issues related to the ability of individuals to respond rather than react.

In a hotly-contested election, where passions are running high and the issues boil down to questions of personal style and approach, there is a risk that, in personalising the contest, you lose track of the purpose of the organisation. I believe that, in this instance, some individuals momentarily forgot that. It is, as someone said, a learning curve to be navigated with care.

In the midst of the maelstrom, there were some interesting lessons learnt. My experiment of permitting endorsements appeared to work well, and I would make two points;

1. If you are going to make an endorsement in anything other than a personal capacity, you need to understand that you need to have a robust process of consultation in order to validate it. On the whole, it's probably best not to try.

2. Endorsements are a double-edged sword. Sometimes, especially in liberal circles, an endorsement from a senior figure actually repels more than it attracts. Slates, real or perceived, are looked upon with even greater suspicion. If you are going to endorse, think of the implications to you of getting it wrong...

The apparent use of a Tory blogger as a conduit for attacks on candidates rather span out of control. I tend towards an old-fashioned view that internal issues are best addressed internally, that media management only works when you own the media, and that anonymity is a recipe for paranoia and recrimination. So, if anyone reading this is the 'mole', just one message - it wasn't necessarily clever, and it certainly wasn't helpful. Ah well, lackaday...

As I said to one candidate, elections are like thunderstorms, sometimes they clear the air, occasionally a lightning strike is fatal. Of course, one always hopes for the former, but you need to be prepared to deal with the latter. I stand ready to serve, regardless...