Turnout improves for Union Council elections

Students voted last week to elect their new Union representatives to the Union Council. The voting, which closed at 9pm on Friday, decided who would take each of the 36 seats up for grabs and represent their year group on the Council.

Voters also decided on who would represent them at the NUS conference (with candidates including SU President Leo Boe, Education Officer Sean Ruston, and Welfare Officer Izzy John).

Chris Luck, Democracy Officer, whose office was full of bright orange “Vote Now” t-shirts, said that “[t]here are many positive messages coming out of this election.”

However, there have been problems. Although more postgraduates have run this year, they have still proven difficult to recruit. In addition, overall candidate numbers are down from last year.

“Candidate numbers going down isn’t good. For me it’s a bit of a concern. The fact that we have more first year councillors is hopefully a sign that we have a trend towards more politically active students.”

Interestingly, 2011 has seen a rise in international student candidates. Luck cites tuition fee increases as an influential factor, which have created “more of a concern about employability.”

The number of female students running is lower than could be hoped for. “There’s a real issue with the lack of representation from female members… We will be running a campaign at the start of Term 2 to encourage females to take part,” he said.

Nevertheless, he urged all students to vote and have their voices heard, calling the claim that it does not matter who you vote for “completely wrong.”

Despite less than satisfactory candidate numbers, those running showed real enthusiasm for representing their peers.

Aidan Hocking, a second-year CAS student, said that “all too often, student politics is about petty factionalism, grandstanding and posturing. I’m interested in running so I can make a practical difference.”

Sanji Chandramohan, a first-year Engineering student, said his inspiration to run came when he was sitting in his room and could not access WiFi and “thought about how to change that.”

Coming from Germany and having Asian roots, he highlights the benefits of international student representation on the council: “I think it’s pretty much important that you have them representing you. They have new ideas and new thoughts.”

A more jaded view came from Steven Bishop, a second-year CAS student, who commented: “People just vote for their friends.”

As was expected (according to Luck), the postgraduate positions (which require quorums) did not reach the number of candidates necessary to elect them to the council. They received around half of the votes needed to make the election valid. For example, the Postgraduate Forum Coordinator needed 335 votes overall to reach its quorum, but only received 182 in total.

All four sabbatical officer candidates for the NUS National Conference were elected.

The overall turnout this year was 1564, which was up from 2010 when 1371 students voted in the Union Council election.

“It’s pleasing to see the turnout go up from last year, but it can always go higher.” The highest-ever turnout was achieved in 2009 with 1621 votes.

With well over 20,000 students studying at Warwick, Luck admitted that “more work needs to be done in some areas… But we can always do better – that’s my outlook.”

Despite some positions not being filled, Luck appeared optimistic about seeing the team for this year coming together. All positions which were not filled were co-opted during the first Union Council meeting, which took place yesterday evening.

Luck also looked to the future of democracy at Warwick, and pointed to the Democracy Review which was proposed to Union Council during yesterday’s meeting.

The plans will include a number of representatives from all over the Union reviewing how democracy is working and how it can be improved.