Tensions remain after Officer vote

In the aftermath of the Week 5 Officer Elections, a number of complaints made against candidates and their campaign teams have been reviewed by Elections Group and fines have been issued regarding breaches of elections rules.

The Boar received claims from multiple sources, who wished to remain anonymous, of Facebook rule breaches and unsolicited messages, the vandalisation and removal of posters, chalked advertising and choir singing in out-of-bounds areas, societies endorsing candidates and many instances of other “unsolicited campaign activity”.

George Whitworth, the current Sports Officer at the Students’ Union and next year’s Union Development Officer, was attacked for the use of his official Officer photo in his campaign, which has been suggested to show an unfair Union-backed advantage due to use of resources.

Whitworth commented: “I used the photo without thinking about it in that way and was quite surprised to find that someone had complained. As far as I am concerned, my face hasn’t changed since I had the photo taken so I didn’t gain any advantage from it.”

Other anonymous sources have incorrectly claimed that President-elect Leo Bøe had incurred fines amounting to more than the threshold of £20 that, if breached, would lead to candidate disqualification. These allegations are purely conjecture as, while charges are issued for breaches of elections rules in an attempt to discourage candidates from breaking rules, it is only Elections Group who are aware of the specific amounts.

Bøe stated in his defence against the allegations: “It’s up to Elections Group to decide on these kinds of things, and not other candidates and their campaign teams.”

Current Democracy and Communications Officer Chris Luck expressed that Elections Group were unable to comment on specific issues and individual candidates.

Luck and Elections Group confirmed that no candidate had gone beyond the £20 limit and no candidates were, or should have been, disqualified in accordance with Union rules during elections, thus debunking accusations against certain candidates.

Luck stated: “No one was disqualified. Some fines were handed out, as is usual in any elections period.”

Luck also outlined the complaints process and highlighted the aims of Elections Group: to keep the process of elections free and fair.

“Regulations specify what can and can’t be done, but not the punishment for a rule breach. If we make public what the fine will be for breaking a rule, it becomes worth taking the risk, so we don’t make it public… Elections Group set out how much fines will be and they stick to it.”

However, some dissenters remained unsatisfied with the elections process and how rule-breakers were dealt with.

Part-time Officer Undergraduate Science Faculty Representative John Lapage stated in last week’s Union Council meeting: “This year, I think we saw instances where it was cheaper to pay a fine than comply with the regulations and, subsequent to fining, no action [was] being taken to prevent the infracting behaviour. That’s plainly not a sensible application of the rules, which are there to promote a ‘free and fair’ election.”

However, some student sentiments suggest that the issue of candidate rule adherence is an issue of which many students are not actively aware. One second-year Maths and Physics student, Ashwin Chopra, said: “I have literally no idea how most of the candidates behaved in the elections. I didn’t follow it at all.”

Some students who were more actively involved in the elections shared reservations about other candidates’ behaviour. “Some candidates and their teams were unprofessional and disrespectful towards one another,” commented second-year PPE student Benita Mehta.

With regards to the Students’ Union’s conduct, she added that “they did enforce some fines, which was good, and they did listen to what other candidates offered with regards to evidence.”

Furthermore, Luck defended the work of Elections Group. “[They] are student volunteers who work extraordinarily hard and are the unsung heroes of each elections period. They follow the rules… [to make sure] everything is done properly,” he commented.