Candidates start on campaign trail in preparation for YUSU elections
Candidates have begun positioning for the upcoming YUSU elections, although campaigning cannot begin until nominations close on Friday, February 22.
Currently, with three days left until nominations close, this year’s elections look set to be the biggest for a number of years. At the time of print, 15 individuals had officially announced intentions to run for sabbatical posts.
YUSU President Anne-Marie Canning said: “I think they will be the most closely contested elections that we have had for many a year. It’s going to be brilliant. We have more candidates in the first three days of nominations than we had in total last year.”
While some candidates have experience in high-ranking JCR positions, and others are current YUSU Officers, some are relatively new to campus politics.
The battle for the presidency looks likely to be a two-way race between YUSU Womens’ Officer Laura Payne and Entertainment Officer Nadeem Kunwar, though the candidacy of Mad Cap’n Tom Scott may be a derailing factor.
Commenting on the range of presidential candidates Canning said: “I think that the candidates are not in direct opposition to each other, they all have interesting qualities that don’t necessarily overlap. But not all the candidates are in yet, we need to wait and see the whole field. Hopefully we will have lots of surprises.”
Unusually, the nominees include both second-year undergraduates and an incumbment. Services and Finance Officer Matt Burton hopes to secure a second-term in his role, and potentially fulfil his initial campaign pledge of a YUSU-managed bar.
Canning, who is the Returning Officer for the election, has high hopes that this year will see a large amount of campus interest. She will hope to see a rise in participation in student politics following the highly-publicised UGM in Week 5 that saw a record-breaking 1,440 students register their vote. She said: “Basically, I want to increase turnout to 2,500 people at least. Last year was the highest turnout for a while, at around 1,400, so I want to double it. And I think we can, now that we have unleashed Facebook, which used to be off-limits.”
The election will also decide other eight non-sabbatical posts on the YUSU Executive.
Stevie G
All the presidential candidates seem a bit weak to me. They don’t seem to have the experience that was possessed by their predecessors. Surely this is worrying!
Sam Bayley
I think that photo of me from this time last year should be a warning to candidates - sabbatical jobs age you drastically!
Jack Sparrow
Are you kidding, Gerrard? Tom Scott??? Wait….I see your point.