Sam Varghese
Thursday, 12 March 2009 06:26
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
"Some of the candidates which used to run in the past elections are no longer willing for reasons not strictly related to the project," Zacchiroli said. "That can always be the case, but one person more or less definitely changes the stat, given how small the numbers are."
Martin Michlmayr, one of the two to serve a two-year term as DPL, said having fewer candidates was a healthy sign. "It shows that people are happy with how things are going," he told iTWire.
McIntyre said he had decided to run again because he had not achieved all that he had set out to do when he ran in 2008. "I think I've done a good job of being DPL so far but I don't think I've yet finished the tasks I set for myself," he told iTWIre. "For example, I've helped a lot of our teams get on better, but there are several more on my list that could still do with that help.
"I've also had dozens of my Debian friends pester me ruthlessly over the last few weeks to convince me to stand again. That's a very flattering thing to happen: they like my ideas and goals and want me to carry on with them."
It is always easier for an incumbent during an election; McIntyre is a known entity and thus his
platform statement is brief. In one respect his campaign is different as he is standing with an assistant, Luk Claes, while Zacchiroli plans to appoint a second-in-command after the election, rather than have a DPL board.
"One thing I have learnt in the last year is that the DPL job is a big one," McIntyre says in his platform statement. "To do the job effectively takes up a lot of time: in my opinion more time than one single person will have, unless they are a student or they have a very accommodating employer. Due to this, I did not manage to make as much progress on my goals as I hoped for in the last year and so I'm changing my plans a little. I have asked Luk Claes to join me as an assistant DPL this year if I'm elected, and he has accepted my invitation."
CONTINUED
