PDP CONSTITUTION
CONSTITUTION - Structure and Procedures
1. Party Leader
(i) The PDP shall have a Party Leader elected by party members.
(ii) Elections for Party Leader will be held every four years, unless unopposed, or at shorter interval as required by the Party Leader's resignation or incapacity, or where 35% of members call for an election by petition no sooner than 12 months from the last Party Leader election. The Party Leader shall act as, or appoint a, Party Treasurer, who is authorised to accept donations and loans on behalf of the Party. They must also submit financial accounts annually for scrutiny by the Party Leadership and members.
(iii) Candidates for the position of Party Leader must secure nomination by at least 5% of the party membership to be entered into the leadership ballot.
(iv) The Party Leader shall be the candidate securing a majority of votes and will become Parliamentary Leader if an MP. If the Party Leader is not an MP, party MPs shall elect a Parliamentary Leader by omov, until such time as the Party Leader becomes an MP.
2. Elections
(i) All elections are to be one member one vote (omov) unless otherwise stated and under an AV system if more than two candidates stand.
(ii) Voting shall be by postal/online vote and/or at Conference as long as all members have an equal opportunity to vote.
3. Conference and Party President
(i) A party Conference will be held annually. It's location shall be decided by the Party Leader, having regard to the expense and ease of attendance of party members.
(ii) A Party President shall be elected annually by members to oversee petitions, elections, voting on Policy Proposals and Conference procedure. Elections for Party President shall be overseen by the Party Leadership.
(iii) The Party President may appoint deputies to chair Conference sessions but may not delegate any other powers.
(iv) The Party Leader and Party President may be the same person but the Party President must be subject to election annually and any party member may stand for Party President, subject to nomination by at least 5% of members.
(v) Extraordinary Conferences may be called by the Party Leader or by 50% of members.
4. Party Leadership
(i) The Party Leader shall be responsible for appointing and removing a Deputy Leader.
(ii) Up to Eight Party Spokesmen shall be elected by members annually by scoring in order of preference, and along with the Party Leader, Deputy Leader and Party President shall constitute the Party Leadership.
(iii) Each party member may allocate scores from 1 to 8 to a maximum of 8 candidates for Spokesmen positions. Their most favoured candidate shall be scored 8, their next favourite 7, and so on, until their least favoured candidate is scored 1. Members may choose to allocate scores to fewer than 8 candidates. The candidates receiving the top 8 aggregate scores shall be selected as Spokesmen and shall join the Party Leadership.
(iv) Any party member may submit themselves for election as a Party Spokesman.
(v) The Party Leader shall allocate portfolios to the Spokesmen thus elected by members.
(vi) The Party Leadership shall wherever possible decide matters on a collegiate basis but the Party Leader shall have the final say on any matter not specifically reserved by the terms of the Constitution, and shall be responsible for the day to day running of the party.
(vii) Further Non-Leadership Spokesmen may be appointed by the Party Leader as necessary, but shall not form part of the Party Leadership.
5. Policy Proposals
(i) Policy Proposals shall be debated and voted on annually (omov).
(ii) Policy Proposals gaining the support of at least 60% of members shall be binding upon the Party Leadership and will be adopted as Party Policy, otherwise they are advisory upon the Party Leadership.
(iii) The Party Leadership & members may submit Policy Proposals for debate and vote and must forward them to the Party President at least 2 months prior to Conference.
6. Policy Proposals Cont.
(i) The Party President shall be responsible for ensuring all such Policy Proposals can be considered by members, but may amalgamate Policy Proposals on identical themes as appropriate, and may set a word limit on the length of Policy Proposals.
(ii) The Party President shall ensure all members have the opportunity to consider and vote upon Policy Proposals either prior to Conference, or at Conference if that member elects to attend and vote in person.
(iii) Proposed changes to the Party Constitution shall be treated in the same way as Policy Proposals subject to the minimum majority provisions in Clauses 9 and 10 below.
7. Conference Proceedings
(i) Any party member may attend and speak at Conference (subject to time constraints and the judgement of the Party President.)
(ii) Wherever possible the Party President shall ensure each Policy Proposal receives at least one speaker for and one against.
(iii) Only those members who have elected to vote at Conference may cast their vote at Conference, and those votes shall be added to the votes cast by members electing to vote prior to Conference in determining the result.
(iv) Party Leadership Spokesmen shall be allocated a minimum of 10 minutes to speak on their portfolio subject and relevant Policy Proposals. The Party Leader & Deputy Leader shall be allocated a minimum of 20 minutes to speak on Policy, Party and current affairs.
8. Supremacy of the Constitution
(i) No Policy Proposal shall be adopted that contravenes the Aims and Principles of the PDP Constitution.
(ii) The Party Leadership shall adjudicate where any Policy Proposal voted for by a majority of Members is claimed to contravene the Aims and Principles, on a omov basis, and shall give detailed reasons for any such adjudication.
(iii) The Party President may state his non-binding opinion that any Policy Proposal contravenes the Aims and Principles when he issues Policy Proposals for members consideration and vote.
9. Changing the Aims and Principles
(i) The Aims and Principles of the PDP Constitution may only be amended, deleted or added to with the support of 90% of members expressed by omov by postal/online and/or conference vote, ensuring that all members have an equal opportunity to vote.
(ii) This clause (clause 9) may itself only be altered with the support of 90% of members.
10. Changing the terms of the Constitution
(i) The terms of this Constitution may (subject to clause 9) only be amended, deleted or added to with the support of 70% of members expressed by omov by postal/online and/or conference vote ensuring that all members have an equal opportunity to vote.
11. Membership
(i) Membership of the PDP shall be open to all UK citizens over 17 who subscribe to the Aims and Principles of the Constitution of the PDP and who are not members of any other UK political party.
(ii) Membership may be refused/revoked by the Party Leadership if prospective members/members are judged likely to/have been proved to contravene the Constitution or bring/brought the party into disrepute. Membership fees shall be decided annually by members vote.
(iii) Members may choose to form local Branches of the party and elect Local Officers (omov) to carry out local organisational duties in line with this Constitution and rules and guidance issued by the Party Leadership. The names and addresses of such Local Officers must be forwarded to the Party President within 2 weeks of election.
12. Candidates
(i) Candidates for Local, Regional, Parliamentary and other elections shall be appointed by the members resident in the relevant electoral area (Council, Constituency, Region etc) on the basis of omov, and by AV if necessary.
(ii) The Candidate securing a majority of such members votes shall be appointed, the Party Leader having a casting vote in the event of a tie.
(iii) All such Candidates must be current Party members and must be eligible and not disqualified under electoral law.
(iv) Where no Party members are resident in the relevant electoral area Candidates shall be appointed by the Party Leadership on a omov basis.
13. Legal
(i) References in gender specific terms are intended to be gender neutral, ie he/she, his/her etc unless otherwise specifically stated.
(ii) This Constitution comprises Clauses 1 to 8 of the Aims and Principles and Clauses 1 to 13 of the Structure and Procedures and is subject to the law of England, and any disputes as to its terms may be decided accordingly.