Three in line for Congress role

CONGRESS 2005 in Glasgow will have a President from one of the Celtic nations following the announcement that three candidates will contest the election for the post.
The co-operators nominated for the Movement&#039s highest honour are Scotmid Society President John Cronan, Welsh co-op activist Sylvia Jones and Edinburgh-born International Co-operative Alliance Director General Iain Macdonald.
Ballot papers have been issued to Co-operatives UK sectional board representatives For the first time the poll is being organised by the Electoral Reform Services organisation following controversy surrounding the "indicative" ballot arrangement last used in 2003.
The new system was brought in last year, but was not required due to the fact that former Lincoln Society Chief Executive and ex-Co-op Group chairman Keith Darwin was the sole nominee.
This year, however, there will be a genuine contest with three highly-experienced and committed candidates vying for the honour of chairing Congress over the weekend of May 20th to 22nd at Glasgow&#039s Royal Concert Hall.
Mr Cronan, a former director of both the Co-operative Group and Shoefayre and ex-chairman of Co-operative Press, was nominated by both Scotmid and Lincolnshire societies.
He has been involved in the Movement since 1968 ? first as a director of the old Gorebridge Society in Midlothian and later with St Cuthbert&#039s Association prior to the formation of Scotmid in 1981.
Mrs Jones, the Rhondda Valley&#039s first Labour/Co-op councillor, is a life-long trade unionist and was the first woman to chair the Wales TUC. She has been nominated by the Co-operative Group.
A co-operator for over 40 years, Mrs Jones is a former chair of the General Council of Co-operative Retail Services and has contested the Congress Presidency three times previously.
Mr Macdonald, Head of Co-operative Strategy at the Co-op Group until being appointed to his current post with the ICA in 2002, was nominated for the Presidency by Employee Ownership Scotland.
He has worked for the Co-operative Union as a Sectional Educational Officer and has also been employed in local government, the civil service and by the BBC.
Ballot papers must be returned to Electoral Reform Services by February 18th and the result of the vote is expected in the first week of March.