The UFU is reviewing the voting system that it uses to elect its presidential team.

At present, a president and two deputy presidents are appointed by a 587-member council every two years.

The council is mainly made up of representatives from each of the 25 local UFU groups, with each group able to appoint a council representative for every 50 members in their local group.

The system differs considerably from the likes of the Irish Farmers’ Association, where voting for the presidential election takes place nationwide under a one member, one vote system.

Recommendations

A sub-committee has been reviewing the UFU system and a series of recommendations were put to the executive, which is the governing body of the UFU.

Speaking to reporters last week, UFU deputy president David Brown said that the majority of points were accepted by the executive.

“The recommendations were formally adopted, bar a couple.

“We were asked to go and take a further look at them and we will bring them back to the executive again at the end of January,” he said.

Overhaul unlikely

Although he did not give details of the recommendations, a major overhaul of the voting system seems unlikely as Brown appeared keen to defend the current process.

“Council members are appointed by the group and are answerable to the group and you would like to think that they are representative of the views that exist within that group,” he said.