The final General Meeting of the term, held last night, has voted against the ratification the recently held Executive Committee, Media and RAG Elections, rendering all the positions invalid.
General Meeting Attendees
The most important item on the agenda for the evening was the starred ratification of the Executive Committee, RAG and Media elections. As the elections, held between 10th and 16th March 2010, did not reach quota (which is set at 10% of the voting population of students) then the validity of the elections must be ratified at a General Meeting. A starred item is usually rushed through with no discussion, however following the item being un-starred by several students present, the floor was opened for discussion.
Among irate discussion over clubs and societies presidents having ‘forced democracy upon [them]‘ by being mandated to attend every General Meeting, the floor hosted an equally-heated debate which one attendant described as ‘the GM biting back’.
Points were raised about everything from candidates ‘not trying hard enough’ in campaigning for their positions to the fact that Royal Holloway is one of very few universities in the country which upholds the idea of a 10% quota. There was also discussion regarding bringing individual positions into question, most notably the positions for Academic Affairs Officer and Student Development and Volunteering Officer. The discussion continued for 45 minutes until a vote was taken regarding the ratification as a whole.
There were 22 votes for the ratification, 15 votes against the ratification and 9 abstentions. This means that the ratification of the Elections failed, as abstentions were taken to signify a no-vote. Following further debate and discussion, it was agreed that confusion in relation to the significance of abstentions meant that the vote would be re-taken at the Chair’s discretion. In the re-vote, there were 21 votes for the ratification, 14 votes against and there were 8 abstentions, meaning that the Elections were still considered invalid.
A final vote was taken on the basis that several people present called into question the entire GM voting process, and a vote was taken to decide whether those present should re-vote on the ratification. In this deciding vote, 14 people voted against re-voting, 17 voted against re-voting, and there were 7 abstentions, meaning that the second vote – failing the ratification of the Executive Committee, Media and RAG Elections – was deemed to be the final decision.
James Pidegon, Students’ Union President, and Rachel Pearson, Students’ Union President-Elect, gave the following statement in an email to both successful and unsuccessful candidates: ‘There was some extremely heated discussion this evening, and we can only imagine how upset, annoyed and angry the successful candidates present, must feel. However, in line with Regulation B of the Constitution, this Election’s validity did need to be passed at a General Meeting, and so this has been the case.’
All positions in the Executive Committee, Media and RAG Elections will be re-opened, as a result, in the 2010 By-Elections which will take place from 3rd – 9th June. Nominations for all positions will open on 17th May.
