Page 44 - How to run and represent a party

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10. REPRESENTING YOUR PARTY
The second part of the manual deals with party-elected representatives in local government
structures: their roles and responsibilities in decision-making processes and the importance
of transparency, and accountability.
INTRODUCTION
To be a party representative (councilor) in a municipal council is a most rewarding and
challenging task for a politician. It is the party representative closest to the citizens;
policies and decisions in which councilors take part directly influence people’s lives.
If you as a councilor do your work well, people will have confidence in you and trust your
party. You will help engage local people who want to develop their community. You will
see results and feel satisfaction. There are a number of questions we should ask ourselves:
Why are we Social Democrats? Was it the fundamental ideology or the
values? Was it a particular political issue? Was it camaraderie and the
dynamic of a social group?
How do we respond if a neighbor asks: “Why are you a Social Democrat?”
What is it we want to achieve as local politicians? What is it that I particularly want
to engage in?
What particular issue is most important to me – and what change do I want to
achieve?
Write these questions and answers down and take them out every now and then during the
election period and check: is the development in the municipality going in the right
direction? Is it possible for you to do what you wanted to do, are there reasons to revise
what you wanted to achieve?
To be an elected representative can also be frustrating work that does not show results as
fast as you would like. As a councilor you often have to deal with a slow and suspicious
bureaucracy that resists change and innovation. This is what we must expect and prepare
ourselves for. We need to be clear about our role and expectations, and what our voters
expect from us. We were elected to represent people and have a responsibility to live up to
the confidence the voters put in us.