And the nominees are...
AILBHE NÍ EARRÁIN HAS THE INSIGHT ON WHAT WENT DOWN AT THE CANDIDATES’ BRIEFING FOR THE UCLU SPRING ELECTIONS
This evening was an exciting night in the run-up to this year’s elections, as the full list of candidates was officially announced.
The event kicked off with a warm welcome from current Democracy and Communications Officer, Hannah Sketchley, who gave us the lowdown on the rules of campaigning, how the voting system works and some wise do’s and dont’s for the prospective sabbatical officers.
Firstly, we were presented with some fun facts about UCL and UCLU so that the candidates could get an idea of what they were letting themselves in for. UCL has more postgraduate students than undergraduates (18,000 vs 15,000 to be precise), one third of the UCL student population is classed as international and UCLU’s annual income is roughly £6 million.
Some simple advice was imparted on how to get elected, the transferable voting system, and how not to gain an unfair advantage over other candidates (perhaps a referral to the iPad scandal in last year’s elections), and then we were given a run down on the key dates. Campaigning begins on Monday, February 23, with voting opening on Thursday, February 26, and closing the following Thursday before the all-important results the very same day, March 5 at 6pm. Pi will be following the action closely in the lead up to the elections and keeping you up-to-date with all the latest news.
Then came the actual nominations, when candidates could finally come face-to-face with their competitors (if they had any). Some surprises included the 4 part-time positions that had no nominations (RUMS Officer, Mature & Part-Time Students’ Officer, School of Pharmacy Student Officer, and Student Trustee). Most of the candidates running for the part-time positions did so in twos, as a job share.
Then came the nominations for the full-time roles, reflecting the new 7.5 sabbatical officers structure (due to the referendum about whether the Institute of Education Officer’s position should be part-time or full-time, nominations for this position will not be announced until Monday, February 16). Unlike last year, all positions have more than one candidate running (excluding RON), making the forthcoming elections very exciting indeed, with particular competition for the role of Welfare & International Officer having five candidates running and Postgraduate Students’ Officer having four.
Drumroll please – the complete list of nominations for full-time positions is as follows:
ACTIVITIES & EVENTS OFFICER
Asad Khan
Ella Skinner
BLACK & MINORITY ETHNIC STUDENTS’ OFFICER
Amina Lunat
Sareh Heidari
EDUCATION & CAMPAIGNS OFFICER
Raquel Nunes Palmeira
Vlad Kardapoltsev
Wahida Samie
POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS’ OFFICER
Ayooluwa Olateju
Kay Tabernacle
Suguna Nair
Valanto Nikolaou
SUSTAINABILITY, ENGAGEMENT & OPERATIONS OFFICER
David Dahlborn
James Simcox
Mohammad Ali
WELFARE & INTERNATIONAL OFFICER
David Hunter
Dominic Meehan
Emma Zurcher
Rebecca Tyrwhitt-Drake
Tom Robinson
WOMEN’S OFFICER
Helen Chandler-Wilde
Natalie James