The Sabbatical Officers — the six full-time paid roles in the Union — for 2026/27 will be Christian Chambers as President, Audrey Lau as Activities & Engagement Officer, Sarah Jilani as Education Officer, Vivian Li as Welfare & Community Officer, Rawleka Wilson as Equity & Inclusion Officer, and Anam Choudary as Postgraduate Officer.
16 part-time student officers, two Student Trustees, dozens of reps and hundreds of clubs and societies committee positions were also elected.
The elections had an overall turnout of 31.99%, with 17,007 voters, making them the biggest Students’ Union elections in the UK for the fifth year running.
It is also the Union’s highest turnout ever, with a 5% improvement on last year’s turnout and an additional 2,500 students turning out to the polls.
Chambers wins with record turnout
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
Christian Chambers, Societies Rep and president of RaiseUCL, won the presidential race against eight other candidates.
Chambers defeated Sustainability Officer Oskar Barltrop in the seventh round, with 2,348 votes to Barltrop’s 2,100 votes.
Chambers wins with the largest number of votes in Union President history, over a thousand more than Ben Scanlan’s last year, however he narrowly misses Activities Officer Ana Boikova’s record 2,379 votes last year.
It is the highest turnout in recent years for a Sabbatical Officer race with 7,585 students turning out to vote.
His manifesto had several ambitious promises, like setting up a food bank for students and donating £2,500 of his £34,000 salary to get it off the ground.
He also wants to start a “UCL Against Sexual Violence” campaign, establishing an emergency Uber fund for vulnerable students at Union bars and Scala as a part of it.
In his victory speech, he said “I just want to say to anybody in the room that has unfortunately been a victim of sexual violence, I can promise you that the [Students' Union] that I run will make sure that you go seen."
His other policies include promoting elections more, revitalising Union bars with lower prices and sports screenings, and creating a "University-wide ball".
ArtsUCL heavyweight sweeps activities race
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
Audrey Lau, President of Drama Society, won Activities & Engagement Officer against seven other candidates, with a turnout of 5903.
Lau faced tough competition with Arts Officer Ben Francis and Hiking Soc President Valentino Thomas in the race, yet rose to the top with 2,050 votes in the seventh round.
She has campaigned on larger sports facilities, reforming sports club funding, and media printing contracts. She also has a broader aim of repairing the disconnect between the Union and students.
Incumbency bias...
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
Sarah Jilani has won re-election as Education Officer, beating five other candidates in a landslide with 53.4% of the first-preference votes, on a turnout of 3285 votes.
She is the only incumbent sabb to successfully win re-election in the same position.
In Jilani’s first term, she boasts that she delivered sample lectures in module handbooks, reformed the personal tutor system so students receive fair support and advocated for fairer student finance in Parliament.
She hopes to use her second term to name and shame departments that break feedback time limits. She also wants “office hours for all” but it remains to be seen how this would differ from the existing policy.
…or not?
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
In the tighest race of the night, incumbent Welfare and Community sabb Hana Mourgharbel was defeated by Vivian Li, with Li winning by just six votes.
Li won the race in the sixth round, with 1,522 votes to Mourgharbel’s 1,516 votes. It is the narrowest margin of victory in recent Union history.
Interestingly, the Welfare & Community race was also the narrowest race last year, with Mourgharbel defeating incumbent Rachel Lim by 57 votes. What goes around comes around…
She ran on affordability, promising £2 campus drinks day (although how frequent this would be is not mentioned), free tailoring, and more.
She claims to be an “expert negotiator” with “foreign trade experience” and notes her Myers-Briggs personality type as ESFJ. She also wants to “close the information gap” and ensure total transparency.
Union Veteran wins equity race
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
Rawleka Wilson has won Equity & Inclusion officer, beating five other candidates on a turnout of 2820 votes. Wilson won in the third round of voting with 1,341 votes.
Wilson who is a ‘face of UCL’ was celebrated recently by the University for dedicating "much of her student life to helping others find meaningful connections across campus."
She has held various Union positions for four years and she says she will implement budgeting and fundraising initiatives, greater transparency in decisions, and more accessible language surrounding the Students’ Union.
From President to Postgrad…
Photo by Thalia Roberts-Cannon
Anam Choudhary, current President, passed over running for a second term in favour of running for Postgraduate Officer, beating 11 other candidates on a turnout of 4021.
Choudhary was re-elected with 1,297 votes, defeating Ian Kwok in the 11th round of voting, by a margin of 113 votes.
It is notably Choudhary’s first time to actually win an election, after being runner up in the presidential race last year, but eventually winning on a technicality due to Ben Scanlan dropping out.
In her manifesto, she pointed to her efforts as President in securing the yet-to-open community fridge and essentials cupboard.
Much of her presidential attention has been focused on postgrad issues, so it may be the case that her new job title is simply more reflective of her policies.
Where did all the candidates go?
Several candidates present on the ballot for President were not on the results: Owen Luo, Alissada Chanaisawan, and Seif Abdelmotaleb were all seemingly either disqualified or dropped out of the presidential race.
It is possible that the 207 invalid votes in this election were cast for these candidates.
Two candidates for Activities & Engagement Officer were missing from the results, along with two Welfare & Community Officer candidates and four Postgraduate Officer candidates. The incumbent Accommodation & Housing Officer, who had re-run, was also missing from the results.
Big promises — but can they deliver?
Several of the winning candidates, from Chambers’ Uber fund to Li’s free laundry and tailoring, have made promises with big spending implications.
Whether the Union’s Board of Trustees, who are legally required to make sure the Union’s finances are in good shape, and other senior management deem their policies feasible remains to be seen.
Many policy promises are also not directly under sabb control but relate to UCL management, and whether they can be delivered is contingent on the University co-operating.