Theos-Talk Archives (October 2008 Message tt00685)

 For a long time, in International Elections, the ballots simply listed the
names of candidates. However, in the current election, the nominators were
listed.

>From what I hear, this change was put in place recently by the GC. None in
the general membership know who proposed the change, what were the
motivations (real and stated) and what were the justifications for the
change. We do not know anything about this change, even though we the
members are the voters have a moral and ethical right to know about it.

Recently while reading about the election manifesto of Ernest Wood when he
ran for the Presidency, I ran into a very interesting statement, which is
given below:

"The Society has now in force a new system of election of President which
has ultimately resulted from a suggestion made by Dr. Besant. Wishing to
avoid some of the faults of the old method, she wrote: "why should not two
or more names be submitted, and an absolute majority of the votes cast be
sufficient for election?" (The Theosophist, September 1907, page 882). This
being so, the fact that she did not use her right to give a nomination seems
to me to show that she desired the members to vote with absolutely free
judgment, not influenced by her as a spiritual teacher."

If Annie Besant desired the members to vote with absolutely free judgment,
not influenced by her as a spiritual teacher, it makes me wonder why the
members of General Council sought to reverse the long tradition and try to
sway the free judgement of the members. Once we go down the path of
influencing members, where do we stop? This is the start of horse trading.

MKR


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