Under trade union legislation an election for General Secretary has to be held every 5 years. The present term of office for the SSTA General Secretary will conclude on 1 February 2020 and the SSTA Council have agreed a timetable for the election process.

Nomination of a candidate in the election for General Secretary may be made by (a) Council and/or (b) any District or Area of the Association. Council may nominate any person; any other nominee must have been an ordinary member of the Association for a period of at least a year as at the date nominations close (but not a Life, or Associate, or Retired member).

Seamus Searson has been nominated by the SSTA Council and this decision was unanimously endorsed at the meeting of Council on 2 March 2019.

• Potential candidates seeking nomination will have the opportunity to send a single email communication to all District Secretaries and members of Council.  The text of the email must be submitted to Andrew Brown in the SSTA Office and be received by 12 noon on Wednesday 9 September 2019.
• The Executive Committee has appointed an independent scrutineer for the election:  Electoral Reform Service, The Election Centre, 33 Clarendon Road, LONDON, N8 0NW. The Depute General Secretary will act as the Returning Officer.
• Districts and Area are required to clearly indicate who they are nominating using the approved proforma.  The nominations must be made at a properly constituted District or Area meeting. Nominations must be returned to the Depute General Secretary by 12noon on Wednesday, 2 October 2019 the date when nominations close.
• Within 7 days of the close of nominations candidates may submit an election address of not more than 300 words together with a photograph (together called the “election statement”).