Union elections for Michaelmas Term 2011 opened today, but some candidates seem more focused on bringing down their opponents than their own campaigns.

Returning Officers Joseph Sanderson and Kiki Winter have recently heard complaints from three candidates, each accusing their opponents of malpractice during the race for Michaelmas positions. The official reports are published on the Union’s website.

A Returning Officer told Varsity that Julian Parmar’s unexpected resignation from the electoral race yesterday came while he was being investigated for making unsubstantiated claims on his manifesto. However, according to the Officer this was not the reason for his sudden departure.

Parmar in turn brought a complaint against both fellow Presidential candidate Calum Macdonald and President-Elect Francesca Hill.

Parmar’s complaint broadly accuses Hill and Macdonald of "conspiringtogether that Miss Hill breach the neutrality to which she is bound", apparently to push Macdonald – her partner – ahead in the electoral race.

The accusations against Hill and Macdonald claim that Hill suggested that Macdonald forward an email from the News Editor of The Tab to James Counsell. Parmar also objected to a seemingly innocuous statement from Macdonald stating ‘he was trying to be careful which of the speakers he took credit for’, apparently referring to his claims during his Presidential campaign.

Union reports note that Hill’s advice to forward the email to Counsell was ill-judged, given his alleged opposition to Parmar’s Presidential candidacy. The report suggests Counsell’s objection was due to Parmar’s failure to fulfill his duties as Speakers’ Officer to a satisfactory standard last term: Counsell alleged that Parmar was primarily responsible for securing just two speakers for the Michaelmas 2010 Termcard.

These accusations may well cause members to question whether the energy that electoral candidates are devoting to pursuing Malpractice Rulings might not be better directed to projects of tangible benefit to the Union membership.

In a statement on Thursday, Parmar said: "I have decided due to personal reasons that the Union would thrive better in the hands of someone else".

These allegations come just a week before Hill assumes her position as President of the Union. The Returning Officers have ‘urged her to take more care over neutrality in future’.

However, speaking to Varsity, Hill commented: ‘The only investigations which overshadow elections are the ones in which someone is found guilty of inappropriate behaviour: the Returning Officers found everyone involved innocent.’

Parmar’s resignation leaves Macdonald as the sole candidate for the position and, unless he is defeated by RON, the next President of the Cambridge Union.

The Union election is the first to be held under new media guidelines that allow candidates to speak to the student press.

Thus, Macdonald was able to comment: "Union elections can look quite bad with lots of "official investigations" and "guilty or not guilty verdicts" – when in reality, candidates are simply just checking to see if the others are playing by the rules."

The running for Speakers Officer has also seen candidates acting less than commendably. Sophie Odenthal and Arrash Yassae, the two candidates for Speakers Officer in Michaelmas Term, have both lodged formal complaints against each other, questioning the validity of their opponents’ manifesto.

Miss Odenthal queried Mr Yassae’s claims that he helped enlist over 400 members, and that he played an instrumental role in bringing Omid Djalili to the Union. Meanwhile, Mr Yassae complained that Miss Odenthal’ assertion that she managed ‘publicity crises’ was untrue.

The consequence of these allegations was that both parties were declared on all accounts not guilty, calling into question whether the complaints were merely attempts to slander