Defection Policy

Harmony Party Defection Policy

Defining “Defection”

Defection here refers to any transition of a sitting official, whether from independent to Harmony, or from any other party to Harmony, at any level, from parish councils up to the various national assemblies/parliaments.

The Defection Form

The Defection Form will be produced by the Operational Working Group. It must:

  • clearly bear the Party name and/or the Party logo
  • bear the date of release
  • bear the Ethical Kernel, in full, and request agreement by the applicant that they will seek to adhere to the Four Principles if elected as a candidate for the Party, and make clear that failure to do so may result in mandatory reselection
  • require the applicant to agree to follow Party Consensus if their defection is accepted.

In addition, the forms must

  • make clear that all forms will be read by Party volunteers in the Research Working Group, and others in their local Constituency, City, or Regional Society
  • request the full name of the applicant (and where differing, both preferred name and legal name)
  • request the date of birth of the applicant
  • request at least one phone number for the applicant, preferably home and mobile, plus the primary address of the applicant
  • request current employment of the applicant & history thereof
  • request that the applicant prove either significant local links (as agreed by the relevant Constituency, City, or Regional Society) or residence in the appropriate area for an interval determined by that same Society
  • request disclosure of public social media account names & platforms
    request disclosure of existence of private accounts, and explicit binding promise to retain privacy status of those accounts henceforth while an applicant, candidate, or once elected to office. It must further be made clear that breach RE private accounts could result in reselection.
Defection Process

The official wishing to defect shall complete the pubicly available Harmony Party Defection Form, submitting it either directly online, or via email/post to the general secretary of the party.

The data will be passed on to the Research Working Group, who will verify that the application is genuine. Due to the nature of the work, this will involve contacting the applicant directly as well, and doing due diligence on all provided data.

Once complete, sanitised forms will be returned to the local assembly (removing personal contact information) for their consideration of the defection. Should a Constituency Society and its Regional and/or City Society lack the required organisational capacity to handle the defection decision, the Society for Elections is expected to support or carry out those duties.

The local assembly – whether Regional Society, City Society, or Constituency Society – shall have the final say on the defection via the usual decision-making process used by the Party.

They must invite the individual offering to defect to a gathering to fully discuss why they wish to defect and what their intentions are, as well as any other questions the assembly may have. This may take place either online or as a physical hustings. After the hustings, a specific period for decision-making should be declared, minimum of 7 days, in which the assembly may debate and determine. If no consensus exists after that period, then there should be a STAR ballot in line with standard processes.

Only Members may vote in STAR ballots.

When an applicant is accepted by their local assembly, they are considered to have completed the defection process and may refer to themselves as a Harmony Party representative. If they are not already a member, they must immediately become one at this point. Accepted applicants must be reminded that selection is mandatory in the Harmony Party, and that they will be expected to follow the consensus of the Party, while remaining free to express their opinions.

Rejected applicants must be contacted & informed respectfully and politely, but there is no requirement to inform them of reasoning. Instead, they should be informed that no-one is informed of the reasoning for rejection as this is a private matter for the Members.

Conduct During Hustings

Members are reminded that their conduct matters.

During a hustings to agree a defection, members must not ask questions inciting, supporting, or calling for:

  • hate speech
  • inciteful or aggressive speech
  • or that risk creating undue negative discrimination
  • or which endorse or perpetuate stereotypes

Participants must be held to the same standards. Anyone breaching these standards shall be subject to disciplinary review by the Committee for Resolutions, and should be prevented from further participating in the hustings – either physically or digitally.