CUSU President Mark Fletcher has been awarded a second term in office, in a vote which saw all four of the 07/08 sabbatical officers who stood for a second year re-elected. Turnout, which has fallen in the past two years, grew to 3,396, 17.1% of the electorate. When Varsity went to press the exact results of the presidential vote were still not known, but Fletcher is understood to have won a majority of first-choice votes.
Though 34.8% of those voting in the elections spoilt their papers in the constitutional referendum, the new CUSU constitution was passed by a majority of 91.2% of valid votes. CUSU remains affiliated to NUS and UKCISA.
Fletcher told Varsity, “I’m obviously delighted with the win, and at the fact so many of the team will still be together this year. The progress we have made this year won’t be wasted, and this gives us a real opportunity to build our Student Union. These elections offered people the chance to see CUSU lurch wildly to the left or the right of the political spectrum, and it is now clear that
this isn’t where the students want CUSU to be.”
Fletcher saw off competition from Higher Education Funding Officer and left-leaning campaigner Richard Braude and libertarian conservative Hugo Hadlow, who planned to strip back CUSU’s functions and funding.
After the election Braude, who has argued that CUSU needs to be political to be relevant, told Varsity, “For a long time CUSU has been failing, but there are elements within it which are attempting to ensure its survival and relevance. I have every faith in some of the newly elected officers, and that those who desire to merely maintain the status quo will look to them for the vision, strength and hope which our student body needs.”
The fourth candidate, Basit Kirmani, pulled out of the race on Wednesday after complaints about an message he sent to the Queens’ JCR email list which told students, “At the moment it is a three horse race between a guy from King’s, the
ex-president from Jesus and me. Both of those colleges traditionally have a much better turnout at voting but all of that MUST change this year if I am to win!” He requests, “PLEASE PLEASE DO VOTE FOR ME! It will take 1 minute max! and spread the word...I really need all of your support!”
The first page of CUSU’s Election Rules 2008 states that “Candidates are not to advertise the election, or their candidacy by e-mail sent to a person who is not known to the candidate as a friend or on any forwarding email list”.
In a letter to the Election Committee, Kirmani described the email as “an honest mistake”, and said that “in the best interests of CUSU Elections 2007/08, all the other candidates running in this election, my supporters and the twenty-thousand strong student population in Cambridge that CUSU represents, I feel that the most honourable thing to do in my position is to resign. I also speak as a representative of my religion (Islam) and my ethnicity (British-Asian).”
Charlotte Richer remains in her post of Access Officer with the support of 56% of voters. She saw off competition from Sam Wakeford, a first year with professional access experience, James Robinson, who ran on Hadlow’s “Change You Can Believe In” slate, and Owen Holland of the Socialist Workers’ Party. Andrea Walko stays on as Welfare & Graduates Officer after receiving 64% of the vote, defeating LGBT Reps Co-ordinator Kaur Adamson. Adam Colligan continues unchallenged as Services Officer.
The two members of this year’s executive not standing for re-election were exchanged for similarly familiar CUSU faces. Women’s Officer Elly Shepherd is replaced by veteran Women’s Union activist Natalie Szarek, who very narrowly beat rival Rhian Keyse. Academic Affairs Officer Pete Coulthard was replaced by Ant Bagshaw, currently Chair of the CUSU Democracy and Development Team.
Emilia Melville and Steven Bland take over from Christine Berry and Dan Chandler as
Ethical Affairs co-Chairs. They defeated Hugh Burling, of the “Change You Can Believe In” slate, who proposed shifting the focus of the Ethical Affairs Committee from the Green issues to “protecting the transparency and – real – ethical integrity of CUSU projects.”
Few of the junior positions were contested. Emily Hammerton-Barry, Ria T.S. Hylton, Marcus King, Mark Wolfson and Fuad Musallam, all unchallenged, secured the posts of Higher Education Funding Officer, Mental Health Officer and Students, Disabilities Officer, Affiliations Officer and Student Unions Liaison Officer respectively. Kathryn Maude narrowly beat Nadia Islam to the post of Target Campaigns Officer.
Hadlow’s response to the election, in which he received less than a fifth of the vote, was mixed. He said, “It’s a shame that CUSU will continue to believe it can represent all students despite such low turnouts... Maybe CUSU needs some competition.” Arguing that CUSU “has no legitimacy and is a deeply undemocratic organisation”, Hadlow
noted that CUSU Council decisions are made by JCR and MCR representatives, but not sabbatical officers. He told Varsity that CUSU members “almost certainly have no idea... that they are electing representatives when they do so”, and that “this isn’t publicised, and it’s a scandal.”
Richard Power Sayeed
Posted on Friday 7 March 2008