Post-election controversy

Though the Students Union elections finished on 21 February, controversy surrounding them lives on.

Last week, the Elections Group reached its conclusions about the disqualification of Boris Schneider, a candidate for the position of Executive Committee Chair. Schneider was disqualified on 20 February, after voting had closed, because of allegations he had overspent and engaged in negative campaign tactics. Chris Rossdale, Schneider’s opponent, was awarded the position.

Schneider filed an appeal with the Elections Group, which decided in favour of upholding the disqualification. According to an Elections Group statement, Schneider was disqualified because he spent £4.21 over the £10 budget allowed on part-time officer election campaigns. No mention was made in the statement about negative campaigning, and the Elections Group refused to comment on whether such a complaint had been received or considered.

Though Schneider told the Boar that he would have won had he not been disqualified, the Elections Group refused to confirm or deny this claim. However, they did say that the results had not been released to anyone, including Schneider.

Schneider called his disqualification “unacceptable.” He said it was “based on one sided complaints and I was not given any basic human right to defend myself.”

“From my perspective the reason for my disqualification was the simple fact that a number of students, who have influence at the Student Union, did not want to see me at this position.”

The allegations of negative campaigning were in reference to a Facebook message sent out by a group opposing the S0.21 sit-in. In the message, students were told not to vote for Rossdale, who was heavily involved in the sit-in, and encouraged instead to vote for Schneider. Schneider was also accused of telling students not to vote for Rossdale because of Rossdale’s involvement with the sit-in.

Schneider denies all these allegations. “The accusation [which] regards the fact that I and people on my behalf were telling other students not to vote for candidates who were involved in the sit-in is groundless, fabricated and simply a lie,” he said. He also denied any connection to the Facebook message or its author. Although Schneider is a member of the group that sent the message, no further evidence could be found linking him to it.

“My campaign was transparent, creative and well prepared. Not once I have said any bad word about my opponents or their campaign, unfortunately I cannot say the same about them. I believe in a fair race and in success through hard work, it’s a shame that my opponents don’t share the same values as I do,” he said.

Mitchell Fung, who lost the Union Presidency to Andrew Bradley by a mere 85 votes, discussed his response to the election. “I was obviously disappointed when I lost, but also knew that it was a tough race and the fact that I played on my ‘international-ness’ was a huge gamble. It paid off in terms of getting first choice votes, but second choice? Fat chance, people either put me as first, or last,” he said.

Bradley had nearly 200 fewer first-choice votes than Fung, but received enough second-choice votes to win the election. Although he lost the race despite having the majority of first-choice votes, Fung said he feels the single transferable vote system operated by the Union is “the fairest of ways.”

He said that, even though he lost, his campaign was still a success. “I guess I was an inspiration to many students who felt their voices didn’t matter. It’s a big deal to have an international student run for SU president; after all we do live thousands of miles away. I think I touched a lot of people emotionally and my captivating lecture shouts usually ended with an eruption of applause. So I guess yes, this was definitely a success.”

Although he considers his campaign a success on the whole, Fung acknowledged he wishes he had done some things differently. “I spent a large part of my campaigning time trying to deal with the issues that many of the opposition’s teams threw at me. They challenged my ideals with the intention of wasting my time. It did exactly that and I believe if I had to do something differently, I would ignore them, and spend my time campaigning.”

The closest race of the elections was for Societies Officer. Only 8 votes separated the winner, James Hall, from the second-place candidate, OJ Hemmings. Hemmings was not visibly upset by his loss, “My second preference won, so I wasn’t that disappointed.”

“It was so close—if it had gone the other way, James would be in exactly the same position [as me],” Hemmings said. He knows Hall personally and believes that, despite slight differences in their manifestos, Hall will do well in the role.

Hemmings’ enthusiasm for the elections was still evident a week after their conclusion. “It was an amazing week, I really enjoyed it,” he said. He was also impressed with voter turnout. “It shows people care,” he said.