The Union’s annual elections concluded last week, culminating in the election of a brand-new sabbatical team for 2023-24. Across elections week, over 1,100 individual members voted in just over 40 elections. It’s fantastic to see so many of our members engaging in the Union’s democratic processes.
Bianca-Georgiana Epuras was elected as our Fairtrade Ambassador, and Lucy Holmes and Bianca-Georgiana Epuras were elected as our Green Ambassadors for 2023-24.
There were two places available in our RAG Ambassador election and after the vote, Dee Whyte and Jorja Fulford beat 6 other candidates to the vacancies.
In the Executive Officer elections 11 candidates stood for 7 positions. The winners were as follows:
BAME Students’ Officer – Jacob Hosanee
International Students’ Officer – Dhanya Sairaj
LGBTQ+ Students’ Officer – Jay Ramsden
Mature Students’ Officer – Sam Adams
Part-Time and Commuting Officer – Malikhai Samworth
In the Students with Disabilities election, Jacob Hosanee stood again and beat Kate Gordon by just 6 votes.
In the Women Students’ Officer election, Liv Ross beat off 4 other contenders to take the final place on the Executive Committee.
In our hugely contested Student Trustee election, Jacob Afedi, Ratu Nailatikau, and Rita Ekokotu-Odigie were installed for the next academic year. Jacob, Ratu and Rita will be responsible for overseeing the governance of the organisation, its finances, and its people. Making sure we are in the best possible place to serve our members.
In the Sabbatical Officer elections, the results were as follows:
Vice President Achievement and Belonging:
A total of 765 valid votes were cast and the quota to be elected was 384:
Akanksha Kale: 246
Jess Bradbury: 401
Phoenix Broxton: 102
RON: 16
Jess Bradbury is re-elected as the Vice President Achievement and Belonging for 2023-24.
Vice President Education & Welfare (Uxbridge and Aylesbury)
A total of 645 valid votes were cast and the quota to be elected was 323.5:
Amy Pile: 584
RON: 61
Amy Pile is elected as the Vice President Education and Welfare (Uxbridge and Aylesbury 2023-24)
Vice President Education & Welfare (High Wycombe)
A total of 810 valid votes were cast and the initial quota to be elected was 406:
Ellie Lee: 298
Hassan Nisar: 123
Sruthi K Subhash: 367
RON: 22
Hassan Nisar and RON were eliminated at this stage and in the second round of voting, there were 709 valid votes cast and the quota now stood at 355.5:
Ellie Lee: 318
Sruthi K Subhash: 391
At this point Sruthi K Subhash was elected Vice President Education & Welfare (High Wycombe) for 2023-24.
President:
In the Presidential election, there were 3 rounds of voting. A total of 826 valid votes were cast and the quota to be elected was 414. In the first round the votes were as follows:
Charlotte Leighton-Woods: 250
Brandon Tester: 370
Hamood Jaffery: 90
Reanne David: 110
Re-Open Nominations: 6
After Hamood and RON were eliminated the quote was not 381, the redistributed votes stood at:
Brandon Tester: 376
Charlotte Leighton-Woods: 270
Reanne David: 114
With Reanne eliminated and a quota of 345.5 the final round finished as follows:
Brandon Tester: 396
Charlotte Leighton-Woods: 293
Brandon Tester was therefore elected President for 2023-24.
We'd like to extend our thanks and congratulations to all candidates. Putting yourself up before your peers is a courageous thing to do and for that, and for your ideas about how we can improve the University and the Students’ Union, each and every one of you deserve our admiration. We look forward to everything that this new group of student leaders will achieve next academic year.