After a gruelling week of campaigning, results were finally announced for the 2010-2011 Executive Committee, Media and RAG Elections on Thursday 19th March in Medicine.
New Executive Committee
Charlie Pagliero and Ben Parfitt were the winners of the only two contested positions, which left the entire Executive Committee uncontested or unfulfilled. A Facebook campaign urging voters to choose Re-Open Nominations (RON) was quashed as all positions elected reached quota.
Dedar Singh Mahal was the first winner to be announced as the next Democracy Officer, followed by Michael Conway for Entertainments Officer.
Ben Sibthorpe, although being mis-represented as ‘Ben Sibthorne’ was declared Academic Affairs Officer, after Douglas German and Ed Resek were appointed Equality & Liberation Officer and Ethics & Environment Officer respectively.
Mari Burton was the winner of Societies Officer and Sarah Kettle was pronounced Student Development & Volunteering Officer to round out the Executive Committee elections.
Amy Richards lost out to Ben Parfitt for the position of RAG chair, announced to an increasingly-frustrated Medicine. The Media elections, deemed to be the most anticipated, were saved until the close of the evening.
The Orbital’s elected officers for 2010-2011 were Alexandra Murphy for Editor and Rachel Dakin as Deputy Editor. Insanity Radio Assistant Station Manager, the penultimate result, went to Sarah Honeycombe.
The most hotly contested position of the evening, Insanity Radio Station Manager, was between five candidates: Helen Carr, Charlie Pagliero, Tom Watts, Nick Stylianou, and RON. RON was eliminated in the first round, followed by Helen Carr. Next to be eliminated was Tom Watts, despite six votes separating him and Nick Stylianou. Nick Stylianou was 56 votes behind in the final round, leaving Charlie to be duly elected.
For the election to be considered valid by the Students’ Union, Regulation B states that ‘10% of the total number of students eligible to vote in that election [must vote]. If [this] is not achieved, a quorate General Meeting shall confirm the validity of the election.’ With less than 10% of students turning out to vote in these elections, the positions must be ratified at the General Meeting on Tuesday 23rd March.
Sports Officer, Media & Communications Officer, Campaigns Officer, International Students Officer, Postgraduate Students Officer and RAG Vice-Chair remain unfulfilled. Nominations for these positions will open in the Summer Term.
