Election Campaigns Slammed by Candidates
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 Written by Ross Garner Friday, 05 March 2010 15:39
TWO candidates running under the “Reclaim Our Education” banner have been criticised for the way they conducted their election campaign.
An e-mail was sent to over 450 recipients after the server hosting the online polls crashed, alleging that the technical difficulties were deliberate.
The e-mail, from the University of Strathclyde’s Stop the War Group, read: “Voting in the upcoming student elections has now been moved to Pegasus due to voting irregularities and polls will be open until 9am, March 3rd.
“It has become more and more apparent that there is a concerted effort by [university] senior management to disrupt the election and prevent students' voices being heard”.
It was signed “Reclaim Our Education”, and encouraged recipients to vote for Presidential runner-up Bryan Simpson, and Vice President Education and Representation runner-up Sarah Collins, both members of Stop the War.
Sarah Collins told the Telegraph during the elections that, “I don’t believe in the election process in this university at all. It is looked over by university management and I think they have a very vested interest in who is in the student union. They are not going to allow candidates in that are in direct conflict with them”.
Student President Philip Whyte, who will be returning next year, has made an official complaint about their conduct, saying, “At a time when the elections were marred enough by technical difficulties it’s extremely upsetting to see them marred even further by baseless accusations. The allegation undermines everything USSA stands for and moreover the integrity of Union staff who work hard to ensure the legitimacy and transparency of elections; Union staff who are completely autonomous from the University”.
It was decided by the Election Tribunal, who oversee complaints, that it was impossible to decide whether the e-mail affected the outcome.
Despite this, several other candidates have voiced concerns.
Current Deputy President Amy Davies, who won a position at the NUS National Conference, said that “It undermines our election process”, and current Academic Affairs Officer Darren Young, said “it undermines us saying we tried to fiddle it.
“Why would we crash our own website in order to have polls down for ages? It’s embarrassing”.
Graeme Allan, who won Vice President Education and Representation, said “The server crash affected all candidates. It’s selfish for them to think it’s just them”.
Sarah Collins, who was keen to stress that herself and Bryan were representing “Reclaim Our Education” and not “Stop the War”, said of the e-mail: “Bryan and I knew nothing about it today until polls closed. The person who sent that e-mail is someone on the Stop the War / UAF periphery who has access to the e-mail account and has been spoken to”.
A spokeswoman for the University said: “USSA asked the University for help when it emerged that their election website, run by an external agency, was having difficulty coping with demand. University staff worked into the night to allow the elections to proceed on Pegasus, which enabled hundreds of students to take advantage of that platform and exercise their democratic rights”.
The Education Act 1994 requires that the governing body of the University satisfy themselves that the elections are fairly and properly conducted.
