Green Party Convention Votes to Campaign on Yes Vote for Lisbon by a Single Ballot

The Green Party will officially campaign for a Yes vote in the second Lisbon treaty referendum following a vote on the issue at their special party convention today. They didn’t vote on their position in Government, but they discussed it.

The membership was asked to vote on whether they should support a No campaign, this did not achieve the required two-thirds majority to enter party policy. They were then asked if the party should campaign for a Yes vote – this achieved the required two-thirds majority by one vote. The press release from the party’s communications office says…

…a two thirds majority was reached in favour of the Treaty. Out of a total valid poll of 321, precisely two thirds of voters – some 214 members – voted yes, while 107 voted No.

… precisely two-thirds. Jayzuz. There were two spoiled votes. The count was witnessed by two representatives from each side – pro and anti – and went through four recounts.

The Greens are by far the most membership-driven party in the state and according to all the members I spoke to there is still a general understanding within the membership that the parliamentary reps are doing their best to pursue the Green agenda. A split between the more senior members – Gormley et al – and the grassroot Greens, those who remain, is not apparent. I was wrong on that specific issue earlier so, but the PforGov vote will be far more divisive, as Guido says – Not Wrong for Long. Seriously though…

Early in the day the membership requested that more time be given to the discussion on the Programme for Government than originally scheduled – this was accepted, thus Lisbon got less time.

According to two members there is a general feeling of “wait and see what we can get” on the PforGov and little palpable serious revolt within the membership, at least none that looks like it would be acted upon. It could certainly be argued that many of those who would have revolted have left the party already. One member said there was some anger expressed from the floor but that it was mainly from people in the party that they’d regard as “talk” – as in, people who would want their voice heard but would be willing to accept the overall party position in the end. Another member said that there was anger from the “more extreme” parts of the party – personally, I took that to mean the generally older environmentalist elements of the membership. What the leadership can get on the PforGov will be the makings or death of the coalition.

There was a larger turn-out than expected, somewhere in the region of 450, however, voting hours were late in the day meaning some non-Dublin attendees had to leave before they could cast their vote. Given that one vote could have changed the party’s official stance on Lisbon… well. At this point I think it is relevant to note that all the “Yes” speakers (Minister Eamon Ryan, Senator Deirdre de Burca, David Geary, Roderic O’Gorman) were Dublin members and all the “No” speakers, Ben Nutty, Martin Clancy, Bert McCann and Ann Marie Flanagan were non-Dublin. I’m not saying that there was some kind of “Dublin conspiracy”, but I think it’s worth mentioning.

There will be another special convention in October after the leadership discuss the PforGov with Fianna Fáil. The new PforGov offer will be put to the membership and, as always within the Greens, will need a two-thirds majority. There is no precedence within the party for this situation so there is some confusion as to how the question on the voting card will be phrased, and how the results will be handled. The two ovious questions would be – “should the Green Party remain in Government following the renegotiation on the PforGov?” and “should the Green Party choose to leave Government following the renegotiation on the PforGov?”, both would require a two-thirds majority. Both will presumably be put to the membership. If neither achieve the two-thirds majority, which is very real possibility, then, according to one member who has a good knowledge of the internal party voting practices, it remains to be seen what will happen…

A Green Party member has an interesting blog post bout the convention here where he describes the general mood inside as “tense, but realistic… at times quite bad humoured” – which is interesting, though, being honest, that isn’t the way the people I spoke to described it. They said there were odd times when it was tense, but overall it was a “mature discussion”. The blog post has a pair of especially interesting paragraphs that say…

Minister Gormley started the conference by addressing the recent election disaster, expressing his feelings as ones of sadness and bitterness akin to being dumped by a significant other. Local Councilors lost seats because the election was fought as a referendum on government. The Greens lost because they are in government, because they are in government with Fianna Fail, and because they are in government in a recession and as such it was virtually impossible for local, EU and by-election candidates to be successful. People didn’t buy into Green successes in Government, the only thing that captured the imagination of the public was getting rid of electronic voting because this act was easy to understand and people felt “good on ye, ye did something against Fianna Fail”, and according to exit polls, Green supporters are the most anti-Fianna Fail of all.

He highlighted the need to embark on a new program to reinvigorate the party and called for genuinely transformational politics. Somewhat wistfully he said that in a way today was an ‘Existential conference’, saying “we can’t go on as is” and the party needs to figure out who it is, and what it believes in. For Gormley this leads to the Green paradox of power, namely that you loose your power if you are not prepared to walk away from power. Quoting the Norwegian movement of the same name, he finished on the phrase “the future in our hands”, that the future of the Party itself is in the hands of its membership, it is for them to decide what is the bottom line for the Party to walk away from power.

He also notes…

…realism however doesn’t necessarily equate to civility and this afternoon’s motions on Lisbon were debated with passion and at times quite bad humour. Despite recent high profile defections the rank and file members still harbour quite diverse opinions, and all are convinced that their path is the route to salvation for the Party.

It’s a good post from one member’s perspective, well worth reading.