The People's PressLabour Party Members Approve New ConstitutionAna Berg institutes sweeping reforms to the organisation of the party but some accuse her of centralisationKaliburg, Ananto
July 14th, 4098Ana Berg has been a vocal supporter of widespread reform within the Labour PartyThe Labour Party has voted in favour of adopting a new constitution which includes numerous and extensive modifications to the way the party functions. The vote has come as a surprise to many because of the amount of power it hands to those at the top of the party, which will now be called 'the Labour Party'- dropping the reference to Kalistan. With three-quarters of voters having to vote in favour, many believed that new leader Ana Berg would be unable to have the new constitution approved but the recent success in the National Assembly elections, when the Labour Party increased their number of seats once again, seems to have reflected well on her and 75.3% of Labour members offered their support.
The proposal was technically devised by the 'Constitutional Committee' but, in reality, this was simply a group of Berg's close advisors and it included many of the changes she had called for in the past. More unexpected, though, was the creation of the 'Party Congress' and 'Central Committee' to replace the old National Executive Committee. Whereas before the NEC was voted for directly by party members, it will now be decided by the Party Congress with the members only voting for the General Secretary- the new official title for the party leader. The Party Congress will be made up of a representative from each county throughout Kalistan and Ananto, voted in by the party's local branch. The PC will then decide who should be appointed to the Central Committee at an annual meeting. Other changes included the removal of the article which required the party leader to hold a confidence ballot every three years, the necessity to have a spokesperson for several issues and an increase in the percentage of the party members required in order to edit the constitution in future, from 75% to 85%.
Former President of the Republic Jim O'Connell was critical of the changesAll of this has led to concern from some within the party, including former leader Jim O'Connell, who said that the changes were 'anti-democratic'. In spite of this, the party members seem to be on board with the changes, albeit only just enough to allow them to pass. This provides Ana Berg with a clear mandate to carry out further reform of the Labour Party and she looked to build on the mood of change in a speech after the result was revealed;
The Labour Party has to pull its head out of the sand and get back in touch with working people. I will not settle for being the third-largest party in Kalistan, we have to win. All of the people who support us and who vote for us, desperately want a Labour government and it's our responsibility to provide them with that. I am simply not content to be the leader of a protest movement. We have to win elections.
With that said, we have to find out what the people of Kalistan want and provide them with it. That means that we have to adapt our values to a new era. I don't think it's a betrayal of the working class to say that we want to do whatever we can to support the growth of small businesses. I don't think it's a wrong to admit that we want to be tough on crime. I don't think it's a crime to say that Kalistan has its flaws. We can't close our eyes and put our fingers in our ears forever. For all their admirable qualities, the Socialist Party have been rejected in recent elections and the political theatre they employ by changing their name makes a mockery of our politics. The Kalistani people want change. We have to say to them 'we are the party of change'. That doesn't mean abandoning socialism, it means developing a pragmatic socialism.
The first step in changing Kalistan was to put the Labour Party on the best foundation for achieving success in the next election. We can't win if we aren't united, decisive and modern. Clinging to outdated principles and values at the expense of winning seats in government is the true betrayal of the Kalistani people. The Labour Party has to win elections otherwise we will achieve nothing. I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country.
Mrs Berg's comments will only add fuel to the suggestion that the Labour Party and Socialist Party are becoming increasingly divided, especially when combined with comments from former President Michal Jones-Terrance. On the Labour side, the leadership is said to be particularly angered, as Berg alluded to, by the SP's rebranding as the 'Kalistani Party of the Right'. Whether the long-standing association can continue for much longer is hard to tell at this stage. Either way, the Labour Party looks both reinvented and reinvigorated.