SU Spring Elections 2026: Ollie Chapman announced as next President in landslide victory on an otherwise tightly-fought election night

Ollie Chapman has been elected as the next President of Warwick Students’ Union (SU), pledging to “show the far-right that they’re not welcome on our campus”. The Boar covered the Spring Officer Elections Results Night live. You can read all the coverage below. 

The headlines

• Ollie Chapman has been announced as the next President of Warwick SU, declaring that “this win is yours, just as much as it is mine”. His victory was backed by cheering and clapping from supporters in an electric results night at The Dirty Duck.
• Adam Skrzymowski and James Varney have been re-elected to their SU roles for another year, as VP Societies and VP Democracy & Development, respectively.
• Raj Hacker, Harri Paget, Ronny Whetton, and Nazrana Meghji round out the Full-Time Officer team, who will take up their positions in August.
• They will be joined on the SU by the victorious Part-Time Officer candidates, Edden El-Hashahar, Marilou Schini Panagiotou, Zoë Holloway, Willow Brown, and Zaynab Ul-Haq.

9:35pm

A full breakdown of voting data has been released by Warwick SU. Ollie Chapman recorded a landslide victory, winning in stage one of the election with 2,680 votes. Second-placed candidate Ilyan Benamor polled 1,117 votes.

Other positions saw far closer voting margins, including the closely-fought Women’s Officer election which Zoë Holloway won by only two votes over Polly Davies. Harri Paget’s path to VP Welfare & Campaigns was similarly challenging: they won the election by 13 votes over runner-up Dae Pomeroy.

The Part-Time position of Environment & Ethics Officer also went all the way to the final stage. Marilou Schini Panagiotou eventually saw off competition from Maryam Ahmed and Taran Talbott – by a margin of five votes.

Full results for all positions can be found on the SU website.

8:25pm

And that’s it! The results night for SU Spring Elections 2026 has come to a close. Thank you for joining The Boar‘s live coverage of this election night, where Ollie Chapman was announced as the next President of Warwick SU.

You can find interviews with the winning candidates on our Instagram.

8:03pm

Ollie Chapman has been announced as the next SU President. “This win is yours, just as much as it is mine”, he said, declaring he hoped his victory showed “there is a place” for everyone at Warwick, regardless of your background.

Backed by cheering and clapping from supporters in The Duck, Chapman said: “Together, we can and will show the far-right that they are not welcome on campus.” In Question Time earlier this week, Chapman talked about how he had protested against Reform UK’s George Finch’s appearance on campus at a PPE Society event in January.

He concluded his victory speech in the same way he concluded his VP Welfare & Campaigns victory speech last year: “Trans rights are human rights, refugees are welcome here, and free Palestine.”

In his interview with RAW, Chapman reflected on his time as a sabbatical officer this year. He said the team of FTOs had worked as a “collective” and he hoped for the same for next year’s newly-elected FTOs. “We’re going to have a great time.”

Asked what phrase he’d like his Presidency to be summed up with this time next year, he said: “Utter woke nonsense”. Cheers from the crowd continued, as Chapman left the stage as President-elect.

8:00pm

As current President Alijah Taha takes to the stage for an interview with RAW, we can bring you a recap of the Full-Time Officer elections so far:

VP Education: Raj Hacker

VP Welfare & Campaigns: Harri Paget

VP Postgraduates: Ronny Whetton

VP Democracy & Development: James Varney

VP Sports: Nazrana Meghji

VP Societies: Adam Skrzymowski

7:53pm

Raj Hacker has been elected as the next Vice-President for Education. Reforming Student Staff Liaison Committees (SSLCs) will be Hacker’s first priority, he told RAW in his victory interview.

He thanked his entire campaign team – probably the most ‘thank yous’ of the night so far.

7:45pm

Current Co-Disabled Students’ Officer Harri Paget has been elected as VP Welfare & Campaigns, seeing off competition from four other candidates.

“I can’t wait to put the things into practice on my manifesto”, Paget said. Their first aim in the role will be to introduce mental health first responders on campus.

Their first thing to relax though? Working the University’s Offer Holder day tomorrow. “I hope I’m not too hungover for that!”, they joked.

7:37pm

The next VP Postgraduates of Warwick SU will be Ronny Whetton. Moved to tears, he called this week “one of the greatest experiences of [his] life”, saying the campaign experience is completely “different” when not campaigning for someone else – which he said has done many times before.

The first thing he will do in office, he says, will be to let postgraduates sit on multiple Forums. His campaign team were waiting for him to leave the stage – and Whetton jumped into their arms, visibly excited to be elected to the role.

7:29pm

James Varney joins Skrzymowski in being re-elected to his role for the coming year. They will serve one more year as Vice-President for Democracy & Development, after beating his sole competitor Anmol Pandey.

In his victory speech, Varney defiantly proclaimed: “We can create an unapologetically student-led SU. We can create a political SU that takes strong public stances on key issues, from Palestine to student protests to the cost-of-living.”

Concluding their speech, Varney celebrated the other results so far tonight: “Students have decisively rejected the divisive politics of Conservative and Reform-backed candidates”, a comment that was largely met by cheers from the room. They were met with another sea of cheers after emerging from their interview with The Boar, now available on our Instagram.

7:19pm

The four-horse race for VP Sports has been won by Nazrana Meghji, who will take over from Louis Gosling in August. “I promise you this is a decision you will not regret”, she tells the energetic Duck crowd.

Meghji said the result feels “empowering”: “People give me energy, energy gives me energy.”

“Everyone in sports matters”, she told RAW, speaking about her goals for sport over the next year – including expanding support for sports clubs, training, and women’s only sessions.

7:16pm

Current VP Sports Louis Gosling has taken to the stage for an interview, before his successor is announced.

Talking about the recent Varsity win and the VP Sports campaigning this week, Gosling reflected on his role, calling it “the best job in the world”.

Asked what advice he would give to his successor, whoever it may be, Gosling said: “be really authentic” and “get out there”.

7:08pm

Adam Skrzymowski has been re-elected as VP Societies. Skrzymowski thanked his campaign team, and also congratulated his “amazing” competitors Ben Cavasi and Aadi Nandedkar.

“I’m really excited to see where we can take [societies]”, Skrzymowski said in his victory interview with RAW. Maybe we’ll be hearing a rendition of Robbie Williams’ ‘Angels’ from the VP Societies tonight – his go-to karaoke song.

7:02pm

We’re on a short break here at The Duck! If you’re following at home, grab yourself a drink, just like the candidates and student media teams will no doubt be doing here.

As the first part of the announcements come to a close, the winning Part-Time Officer candidates were as follows: 

Widening Participating Officer: Edden El-Hashahar

Environment and Ethics Officer: Marilou Schini Panagiotou

Women’s Officer: Zoë Holloway

LGBTQUIA+ Officer: Willow Brown

Ethnic Minorities Officer: Zaynab Ul-Haq

7:00pm

The next Ethnic Minorities Officer will be Zaynab Ul-Haq. Ul-Haq thanked everyone who voted for and supported her in her speech.

6:54pm

Willow Brown is to become the next LGBTQUIA+ Officer. Brown kept their speech short, but remarked they are looking forward to making “the SU gay again”.

6:50pm

Zoë Holloway has been elected as the next Women’s Officer. “I’m really excited to represent all of the women at Warwick”, Holloway said upon accepting her victory.

6:47pm

The Environment and Ethics Officer election has been won by Marilou Schini Panagiotou, beating five other candidates for the position. Walking onto the stage to the backing of Glee‘s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, Panagiotou remarked that she was “thrilled” to be elected to the position.

“I’m so thrilled to make the University green, I have a lot of ideas”, she said.

6:42pm

Edden El-Hashahar has been elected as Warwick SU’s next Widening Participation Officer. El-Hashashar was absent from results night, so did not make a speech.

6:40pm

The results of the Part-Time Officer elections will be announced first. Five PTO positions have been contested this week: Widening Participating Officer, Environment and Ethics Officer, Women’s Officer, LGBTQUIA+ Officer, and Ethnic Minorities Officer.

No candidates run for either Trans Students’ Officer or Disabled Students’ Officer. These elections will be reopened in the Summer Election period.

6:38pm

Results night has begun! Results for all thirteen contested positions are set to be announced over the next hour and a half (or so).

6:15pm

This year’s results night is taking place in The Dirty Duck, where campaign teams are gathering, eager to hear the results of the elections. The Duck is a sea of green, with party hats, glasses, and feather boas everywhere you look. Kazoos have also been handed out – providing a questionably tuneful musical accompaniment. Results are to be announced from 6.30pm.

5:00pm

After a week of campaigning, polls have now closed in the SU Spring Officer Elections. Candidates hoping to become Warwick SU’s next Full-Time and Part-Time Officers can do no more.

6,870 students cast their votes this year, up 480 from 6,390 last year. Turnout was 25% of the student population.

Watch RAW 1251AM’s livestream here.

Thank you to everyone at The Boar who helped with coverage of this year’s SU Spring Elections. Our coverage of SU Election Night was brought to you by Tom Ryan, Nikolai Morton, Hannah Guthrie, Maya Gordon, Martin Day, George Marshall, Sanjana Iyer, and Ben Tanguy.