A total of nine new candidates have put themselves forward for election to the Association of Optometrists’ Council this year.

A spokesman for the AOP said: “This is the highest number of new candidates who have decided to enter for election to Council in the past 12 years.

“It is particularly gratifying because this was the first year that we did not send out paper copies of the nomination form; we put the form on our website and e-mailed it to members and notified them through OT that the nomination form was available on our website.”

Elections will be held in the following three constituencies.

For self-employed optometrists (three vacant seats) there are six candidates: Kishor Bardolia, William Ean Blair, Paras Kothari, Syed Rahman, Kevin Thompson, Helen Tilley.

For employed optometrists (two vacant seats) there are six candidates: Ruth Cuthbert, Omar Hassan, Jia Jiann Liaw, Vicky O’Connor, Sheetal Patel, Nicholas Wingate. North Wales (one seat) the candidates are Victoria Pope and Robert Rodger.

Nomination papers for the elections, which will be by single transferable vote, will be sent to voting AOP members at the end of this month. The election will close on March 19.

The following candidates were returned unopposed to serve on the AOP Council for three years from May 2010: South West Peninsula/Dorset & Somerset/Channel Islands – Jane Bell; Avon, Gloucestershire & Wiltshire/West Midlands South – Francesca Marchetti; Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, & Rutland/ Trent –  Peter Warren; Cheshire & Merseyside – Lyndon Taylor; Greater Manchester – Andrea Jayne Kay; Cumbria and Lancashire/Isle of Man – Charles Cottam; Grampian/Orkney/ Shetland/Tayside – John Dean-Perrin.

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