Allegations of foul play and disqualifications tarnish campaign week

The Students’ Union elections this year were some of the more exciting in years. Unlike most years there were no joke candidates and all Sabbatical positions were closely contested (except Education where only one candidate stood).

“Campus has been alive,” said current Students’ Union President Stuart Thompson. Most of the publicity for the candidates was the posters which covered the library overhang and the Piazza. Some were handmade, others highly stylised, some even put up socks. The candidates also spent a lot of time doing kitchen tours to really get their policies across

Election week was not without controversy though. One of the candidates for Executive Committee Chair, Boris Schneider, was disqualified after reportedly spending more than the £15 budget allowed, amongst other issues with his campaign. The Elections Group declined to comment on how much Schneider overspent. The Elections Group also remained tight lipped on allegations that Schneider had been telling students not to vote for certain candidates because they had been involved in the sit-in.

In a Facebook message sent out from a group which opposed the S0.21 sit-in called “[GET OUT OF OUR LECTURE THEATRE !!](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52249201430),” students were told “DO NOT vote for Chris Rossdale” if they did not agree with the sit-in and did not want to see it repeated. Instead the message encouraged students to vote for Schneider who “seems very competent.”

This constitutes as negative campaigning and may have contributed to Schneider’s disqualification. This disqualification means he will also be banned from ever running for any Council and Students’ Union position.

The Windsurf Society, where Sam Shirley, one of the Presidential hopefuls, is Treasurer, sent out an email telling its members to vote for Shirley. This is in breach of election rules and resulted in Shirley being banned from campaigning on Tuesday morning. Shirley said he had not been aware of the email and had taken no part in it.

Especially in the Presidential race there were allegations and complaints about dirty campaigning. Asen Geshakov felt he had been targeted, though he said he did not think any of his opponents themselves engaged in any underhand activity. Geshakov and some supporters made a life-size cardboard poster of a bus saying “£2.90 = Ripoff” and “Asen 4 Pres” Wednesday night and put it up on Tocil Field. However by 8am, long before most students saw it, it had been taken down.

Jack Ashton, a second year Sociology student who helped put up the bus said its destruction was ”clearly quite deliberate act of sabotage” and in “no way drunken [students].” He explained that they finished the bus at 4am, after all Union events are finished Ashton finished by saying, “I’m going to push for a fuller investigation.”

“I just decided to move on,” said Geshakov. He added, “we were having fun up until…someone took down our [bus].”

“The campaign was mostly civil…I hope they don’t get repeated …and that measures get taken against them,” concluded Geshakov.

Overall, however, the campaign week was an exciting one for everyone involved and for the student body as a whole.