El Presidentes say elections would threaten stability of Banana Republic and will stay in office beyond their elected term

At the so called ‘Leaseholder forum’ on 24th Jan, El Presidentes (Chairs Louis Sebastian Kendall & Larissa Villar Hauser) stated that the Chair elections (due in February) will be postponed for reasons of internal stability. No dates or process given other than a vague reference (when pressed) to ‘2nd quarter of 2024’. So that potentially means the end of June, the Chairs are thereby giving themselves at least 4 months beyond their elected term. Classic banana republic - the behaviour of those who are afraid of fair and free elections. This is a stunt which the former Chair Stephen Thompson also tried to pull in relation to the 2021 elections but had to abandon after I drew attention to this and many other games which were being played. It also repeats the appalling behaviour by the CBWRA committee towards residents who asked why the elections for Chair which were due in January 2023 were not being held. These residents were insulted by the former Chair and committee members who referred to these residents as ‘idiots’ and ‘piranhas’ amongst other things. The committee gave a number of convoluted responses about the Chair elections, including a claim that they had already happened at the AGM some months earlier (they had not). Eventually, after pressure from residents, elections were reluctantly ‘granted’ by the CBWRA committee, but with one candidate banned from the CBW app (for pointing out that the CBW committee were misinforming residents that Right to Manage was not possible), another withdrawing from the election after (in his view) being intimidated by the former Chair and rampant online bullying and abuse of those standing against Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall, who also pooled their votes in violation of the constitution. Candidates were given two weeks’ notice of the election dates when they had been promised at least a month. This is how the current Chairs Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall were elected. The fact that these games are again being played with the election dates, and the constitution ignored, shows that the current Chairs are continuity Thompson, in my humble opinion and are terrified of a fair and free election.

At the ‘leaseholder forum’ on 24th January 2024, Louis Sebastian Kendall denied that the CBWRA constitution contains any requirement for annual elections of Chair which was quite an extraordinary claim. The constitution adopted in September 2023 which removed many basic rights of leaseholders (including the right to inspect notes of communication between CBWRA and the freeholders and managing agent) states that

12.3 The Oversight Committee shall conduct and monitor the annual election to select a
chairperson.

NB it says CHAIRPERSON (singular) which of course El Presidentes also ignored by pooling their votes in a joint candidacy.

Of course they may since have deleted that reference to annual elections – anything is possible with people who have no respect for the rules or proper governance.

El Presidentes added that there would be no elections for Directors of the Right to Manage Company because it is too difficult to organise a quorate meeting 🙂 and they could not explain why the notes from the leaseholder forum meeting would not be minuted or circulated. Vive El presidentes! Down with democracy and free speech! 🙂

Of course the real reason why Chair elections are not happening is because Il Presidentes want to serve the RTM notice on freeholders before calling the next dodgy election in which opponents are banned from the national media (CBW app). Doubleplus good. Salute El Presidentes!

Since El Presidentes or their Secretary do not produce notes of the leaseholder forum (despite the fact that the constitution requires the Secretary , Katherine Greenaway, to do so) I will be producing my own in the near future.