On 7 November 2019 union members in the PCS will begin voting to decide who will be be the General Secretary of the union for the next five years. Under union rules a candidate must have a minimum of 15 branch nominations in order to make it onto the national ballot, three candidates met this threshold.

Bev Laidlaw, a PCS rep within DWP and NEC member, obtained sixteen nominations (14% of the total) and is the candidate for the Independent Left faction. Bev’s candidature of course follows the Independent Left’s recent success in the Assistant General Secretary election. Bev Laidlaw has a campaign website here.

Marion Lloyd is a PCS rep working in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and an NEC member. Although she began her campaign seeking the nomination of Left Unity she withdrew her candidature midway through the election process and has decided to stand on an independent basis with the backing of the Socialist Party. Marion obtained 39 nominations (33% of the total). Marion has a Facebook page supporting her candidature here.

Mark Serwotka is the incumbent General Secretary, having been first elected to the post in 2000 and been re-elected and every election in the meantime and obtained the nominations of sixty-two branches (53% of the total). Mark is the Left Unity candidate competed with two other candidates (one of whom, Marion Lloyd, withdrew before any votes were cast); he has recently completed a term of office as the TUC President. Mark’s campaign website is here.

Ballot papers will be issued to members on 7 November and ballots close on 12 December. As with all these elections turnout is often disappointingly low and a priority should be that every member engages in the election, not just by voting but by learning about the issues. I will publish each candidates election statements separately when they are published.