Elections Follow

MEMBERS OF the civil servants' PCS union have massively voted for more democracy in their union. They voted by 31,322 to 18,926 in favour of annual national executive elections. This is an overwhelming endorsement of general secretary Mark Serwotka's stand against the abuse of power by the right wing "Moderate" dominated national executive.

THERE ARE many things that stop Tony Blair sleeping at night. One of them is his fear that the union movement may be about to humiliate him again. Two of Britain's biggest and most influential unions, the TGWU and GMB, are about to elect new general secretaries. In both elections the candidates have not been finally decided.

ACTIVISTS ACROSS the PCS civil servants' union have been organising to win the union's ballot for more democracy. They are fighting to win annual conferences and annual national executive elections.

THE BRITISH National Party wants to try to appear respectable in the run-up to the council elections this May. The Anti Nazi League is urging people to get active against the BNP Nazis and help expose their true Nazi face.

OVER 270,000 members of the PCS civil servants' union were to start a crucial vote over the future of their union from Friday this week. The vote is on whether to increase democracy in the PCS by having annual national executive elections and conferences.

TWO THINGS formed the background to last weekend's World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. One was the threat of a devastating war against Iraq within weeks. The other was the swing to the left in Latin America, expressed in the victory of left wing candidates in presidential elections in Brazil and Ecuador, and in the failure of the coup attempt against Hugo Chavez's government in Venezuela.

THERE WILL be local council elections in many parts of England outside London on Thursday 1 May. A number of Socialist Alliances, including Birmingham, Bristol and Colchester, have already selected some candidates. Many more Socialist Alliances will be selecting candidates over the next few weeks.

ACTIVISTS IN the PCS civil servants' union are preparing for a key battle in their union. The union is set to ballot all its members in February about introducing annual national executive elections and conferences. If this is voted through it will massively increase democracy in the union. Socialist Mark Serwotka won the election for general secretary of the PCS in December 2000.

ALL THE main political parties were rejected in three out of the four mayoral elections announced on Thursday of last week. Independent candidates won in Stoke, Mansfield and Bedford. The media reported that the Nazi BNP grabbed a significant vote in Stoke, but almost entirely missed the spectacular success for the Socialist Alliance in Hackney, east London.

THE SCOTTISH National Party tacked rightwards at its conference in Inverness last week. The message from party leader John Swinney was that the SNP has evolved from a party of protest to one capable of taking power. With just seven months to go before the Scottish Parliament elections, Swinney wants to "do a Tony Blair" on the SNP.

THE SHOCKWAVES created by Derek Simpson's victory in the AEEU-Amicus elections continue. Defeated right wing leader Ken Jackson has fallen out with his former supporter Roger Maskell.

THE RIGHT of Asians to defend themselves against racists is currently on trial in Preston, Lancashire. The six Asian defendants are the first to go on trial over the riots in Burnley in June of last year. They live in a town where three British National Party (BNP) members became councillors after the elections earlier this year.