From ‘open selections’ to the NEC result, democracy should be more than a slogan for Labour's warring sides.

Two stories this week paint a fascinating picture of democracy in the Labour party. 

On Monday, Momentum announced they are backing a shake-up of the selection process for sitting MPs. Depending on which side of the party you are on, this is either opening up Labour, or a partisan attempt to kick out centrist representatives.

Momentum – I think rightly – argue that Labour’s selections process should be more democratic and ‘give a fair chance to all candidates’ and ‘encourage positive campaigning’.

They criticise the ‘divisive practice’ under current rules, of forcing members to campaign against the incumbent MP to trigger a reselection – rather than to automatically have a diverse and transparent conversation about who is best for the constituency.

Monday also saw the news that Momentum has won 100% of members’ representation on the NEC.

There’s a link between these two stories: Momentum’s call for a more democratic selection process, and an undemocratic election result.

The 30% or so of members who voted will know that Labour’s NEC elections use a ‘block voting’ method: that is, First Past the Post. The top nine candidates win – and all other votes go to waste. If your choices aren’t in the top nine, tough.

That system means – as we saw – 56% of the vote (and often much less) for an organised grouping can hand them 100% representation. Despite candidates from other wings of the party getting a significant chunk of the vote, those viewpoints won zero seats.

So, while more voters may have preferred the two nearest-winners – independent Corbyn supporter Ann Black or centre-left Eddie Izzard – over Peter Willsman, the vote-wasting machine of the block voting system meant independent voices go unheard.

I’m on the left of the party, but the current system encourages organisation along factional lines: the #JC9 facing off a more dispersed, fragmented soft left.

There is now apocalyptic talk of this marking the end of the road for non-Corbynistas. The dramatic exaggerations in representation we see under the current system do naturally lead to such destabilising fears.

Two things can happen as a result of this: it forces a split, or it forces ever more factional organising (they are not mutually exclusive). The Progress/LabourFirst side regroup, minimise choice (to avoid splitting the ‘moderate’ vote) and the Corbyn-side hardens. That in turn is a recipe for a split.

For centrists in the party, they may predict their chances are slim at the next NEC election, meaning they field just a couple of centrist/centre-left candidates (to ‘focus’ the moderate vote). That minimises choice for members, and again encourages a tribal mentality: the view that it doesn’t really matter who gets elected, it’s the faction which counts.

There’s a fairly solid rule in progressive politics: 100% of the power is bad for democracy, diversity and openness.

Of course, this clean sweep – as good as it may feel – is artificial. It stems from an inability for voters to rank candidates by preference. Currently, people’s votes go entirely waste if their first choices don’t have enough support. This system doesn’t reflect the values the left of the party say we support – not least in the call for ‘democratic’ and modern, diverse open selections.

The solution? On the left of the party, Momentum need to prove that its call for more democracy viz a viz selections isn’t self-serving: that it is about principles.

That principle necessitates switching to a modern, democratic voting system like the Single Transferable Vote for NEC elections. So that all talk of ‘splitting the vote’, ‘wasting your vote’ and voting only on bloc lines can become a thing of the past.

And for the centre of the party, this is a much-needed compromise that can be secured, potentially in return for accepting open selections. It means guaranteeing that the diversity of views in Labour is represented, without (ironically) having to pare down the number of moderate candidates and limit voters’ choices.

Momentum getting behind a diverse, proportional voting system for the NEC would be the single most powerful way of showing that its rhetoric about increasing democracy is genuine. And for all the party – this could be one way to avoid a damaging split.

Democracy is a fundamental principle, not just for when it suits our side. Let’s embrace it whichever part of the party we come from – and improve our internal culture while we’re at it.

Josiah Mortimer is the Editor of Left Foot Forward and also works for the Electoral Reform Society. He writes in a personal capacity.

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