We’re All In The Same Vote
The polls have been polled, the hustings have been hustled, the votes have come in and taken their jackets off. It’s the most wonderful time of the year - the fallout from the UCLU Elections. This year saw a reduction from the 10 sabbatical offic- ers we are currently represented by, to just 7 full-time electees (see CG 46,47). This made the competition for the £25,000 a year jobs/years-off even fiercer.
Turn Out Your Pockets
The number of sabbs wasn’t the only thing to have fallen, with the voter turn- out having slumped from the previous re- cord high of 20.6% to just 16.7%. This was put down to the highest ever number of students being eligible to vote, in no small part including the influx from the Insti- tute of Education merger.
You Win Some
Amina Lunat (Black and Minority Eth- nic Students’ Officer), Asad Khan (Activi- ties and Events Officer) and Wahida Samie (Education and Campaigns Officer) all won by landslides, whilst current LGBT+ Students’ Officer Tom Robinson and Sug- una Nair, president of the now redundant IoESU won tight races for Welfare and International Officer, and Postgraduate Students Officer, respectively.
You Lose Some
In the surprise of the election, for the newly created Sustainability Engage- ments and Operations Officer post, notorious moustachioed Swede David Dahlborn and sporting BNOC James Simcox were knocked out by Boxing President Mohammed Ali. Natalie James won an uncontested campaign for Wom- en’s Officer. Her opposing candidate, Tory Soc big-wig Helen Chandler-Wil- de, pulled out following the revelation that she had not actually re-enrolled as a student at UCL after being on an ERAS- MUS scheme abroad.
iPad, You Pad, We All Pad
Those few hacks who turned up to the election results event were left waiting in the cold due to a Union disciplinary meeting to consider allegations of fraud against Asad Khan and Mohammed Ali. The two candidates and their teams of campaigners were accused of using iPads to pressure students into voting for them then and there, without the voters fully understanding what was going on. The Union disciplinary panel upheld the al- legation against Khan, and docked his result by 1%, but found that claims re- garding Ali were “unproven”.