Autumn Student Councillor election results announced

Autumn elections for 2012/2013 Student Councillors opened on Tuesday 15 October and closed Thursday 18 October.

74 candidates ran for posts as Student Councillors and Faculty Representatives. The results were announced on the Democracy Hub notice board and on the SU website today.

27 First Years ran for five Councillor Posts, 11 Second Years for four posts, and 11 Third Years for four posts. Eight students ran for three Four Year+ posts, and ten Postgraduate students for five positions.

There were also two candidates running for one position as Postgraduate Arts Faculty Representative, and five students running for one position as Postgraduate Social Science Faculty Representative.

Despite a relatively large number of candidates running this year, there were no nominations for the position of Postgraduate Science Faculty Representative. When asked to comment on this, Students’ Union Democracy and Development Officer (DDO), Cosmo March, said that although it is “a huge shame”, this does happen quite frequently.

Mr March also pointed out that there is still the opportunity for a Postgraduate Science Faculty Representative to be co-opted in after the elections.

Robert Gorman, running for a post as a Third Year Student Councillor, was asked if enough students have a proper understanding of and an involvement in student politics:

“The average student really doesn’t care enough about the brand of white rum they drink at the Union to sit through five hours of tedious red tape and nonsense. …I am super confident, however, that this year’s DDO will really get students involved, and step one is to continue taking things online.”

When asked whether the student council is relevant to ordinary students, Mr Gorman responded:
“It is very important for the student body to take time reading manifestos and vote … Are they relevant after that? No, if we are honest. Once the student body has confidently voted in those that represent them – those elected just get on with it”.

A full list of the candidates elected has been posted on the SU website.