Minutes Too Late
There have been allegations of interference in last week's elections for the OUSU sabbatical post of Vice-President (Graduates).
Marcus Walker, current Union Librarian, who was running for the post, arrived in the OUSU offices last Thursday well before the deadline. Before the 12 o'clock nominations' deadline struck, Walker had handed in all the relevant paraphernalia except for his administration fee, which he had with him. The Returning Officer Lyndsey Lomax asked him to transfer his manifesto from the computer on which he had produced it, to the OUSU Server so that both paper and electronic forms were available to her. Walker then missed the deadline by minutes and his nomination was rendered invalid.
The previous day a friend, Julia Buckley, while working on Walker's manifesto, had been ejected from the publications room of the OUSU offices by V-P (Finance), Sean Sullivan, who declined to comment on the matter. Buckley insists "He's illegitimately tried to influence the electoral process, by throwing out the agent of a candidate. It was an attempt to disadvantage his campaign."
Walker suspects foul play, claiming that "because of the incompetence of OUSU and the RO, be it by accident or design, it looks as if they prevented a candidate from standing, who they didn't want to win." The issue was brought to a Junior Election tribunal but thrown out, as the original nomination was ruled invalid. Since he was the only candidate, the period of nomination was opened for another week, allowing other candidates to stand. Currently only Walker has put himself forward. OUSU President Will Straw commented on the circumstances, "I'm hoping that we'll receive more nominations."
13th Feb 2003