Friday, February 24, 2006
We counted them in and we counted them out again
It's a strangely exciting event - a bunch of RUSU staff and unsuspecting innocents cluster round tables and are given piles of votes to count. Usually there are about a dozen different votes - NUS positions, RUSU positions and the occasional vote to indicate what the executive should do on a particular subject.
Normally about 1,500 students decide to vote, around 10% of the student body, so not really representitive but it's as democratic as you're going to get. The indicative vote this time was whether smoking should be banned in the Student Union or go for some compromise - the total ban won. Although the government had already decided to ban smoking in the workplace (and therefore the RUSU bars and shops), the vote would help the executive decide how to approach the move.
This year the elections went pretty much as expected - we are still waiting for the ever-present candidate called Ron to get in but he is always just so unpopular (Ron=ReOpen Nominations). There was a protest vote in one uncontested position where RON got 100+ votes - so the winner was unpopular but not unpopular enough to force
someone else to stand against him.
The greatest test of the democratic process - and the transferrable vote system - came in the headlining act: choosing the President. The incumbant was standing again and exit polls were not in his favour. Throught the night he turned to his old mate Snakey B or sympathy...
There were five standing and the person with the fewest votes would be dropped each round, their votes being transferred to the next choices (still remaining) on the voting sheet. In the first round Dave Lewis came second with Bill Smith way ahead; in the second round the same dismal picture was seen; come the third round and a huge swing meant the two candidates were almost neck and neck. Only 4 votes seperated them and Dave couldn't believe his luck. The Student Union called for a recount (cheers, Ben) and the margin was slightly greater. Again Ben sent us back to the tables and again we counted more for Dave. So with the slimmed of margins, Dave went on to a second year.
The student body seems pretty split down a sports/non-sports division. I can see that the executive has a lot of work to do there. Bill's pro-sport backing was very "vocal" as Dave, president elect and kebab advocate, was announced the winner. [[Being interviewed in the picture below]] Bill was not impressed by the way the voting had gone, which was understandable - winning up to the 3rd transfer and then losing by a handful of votes would be gutting. It does show, though, a broader support amongst students for Dave - basically, if they weren't going to vote for Bill then they were going to vote for Dave and there were more people not voting Bill.
RUSU Trustee
Board for 2006/7...
President: Dave Lewis
VP Education: Ryan Bird
VP Welfare: Nick Smith
VP Sports & Societies: Sam Hibbs
VP Equal Opportunities & Ethics: Mike Hance
VP Development: Emily Beardsmore
Student Trustees: Julia Horne, Pete Jeffreys & Chris Hampson
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