Elections? Wot?
A COOL LOOKING banner outside the Union, a plethora of emails from Nick Barnard, the Media and Communications Officer, and even fancy mugs. With all this publicity, why was the turnout so low at elections last week? Could it be that despite the media campaign just not enough people had heard about them?
Whilst I’m no political scientist [Err...you’re a human geographer – Ed] it does seem that all this spontaneous arse-scratching round the Union for a solution won’t come to much. I decided to take what Geographers call a “pub sample” of opinion as to why no one bothered voting (yet again) at the Elections. These are some of the answers I got:
-No one I knew was standing
-Doesn’t really matter anyway
-No one I knew was standing
-Doesn’t really matter anyway
They’re right; around 14 people turned out for the hustings this term and over half were the candidates. The only elections that receive a decent amount of attention are those for the Sabbatical Officers in spring and even those that turn up for this only do so because their mates are running. Why do those select few vote? Because said friends will get to earn £22k a year before going on to become accountants and earn even more. I know this, because I was running for Media & Communications Sabb last year until I wasn’t allowed to declare my own nomination [You handed it in late… - Ed].
Clearly one of the reasons that the Sabb elections attract a much higher turnout is because the full time executive posts actually mean something. The recent elections highlight the fact that the Union has too many stupid positions. Many of these responsibilities could be met more efficiently by the Sabbatical Officers, who after all, are the only ones with real power. Of the roles offered in the latest elections, 90% exist purely to boost CVs. A Union election featuring fewer, but more important roles would surely attract more attention from voters than a larger (expensive) media campaign.
Students at UCL want their Union to provide good services. They don’t want it to fuck about wasting time trying to legitimise itself in every way possible. It needs to concentrate on its core competencies and get on with the task of achieving its mission statement. Endless, pointless committees and ubiquitous positions only hinder that.
Ex-Finance and Administration Officer Mark Littler [see The Cheese Grater’s special issue] was a model of political correctness whilst at his post in the Union. So keen was Herr Littler to show his support for his overseas student colleagues that he hung the British flag of Hong Kong above his desk on the fourth floor of 25 Gordon Street. Not one to do things by halves, Mark also told a colleague that he liked to refer to countries by their colonial names before loudly discussing ‘The Gold Coast’.
[We wish Mark the best in his bid for International Students Officer, at ULU- Ed]