One more time
ALTHOUGH SOMERVILLE'S JCR President and Female Welfare Officer were decided by Monday's repoll, the position of Male Welfare Officer ended in a dead heat.
Ferdy Lovett beat Robin Sivapalan by 127 votes to 101 to take the role of President. Lovett admitted he had hoped to win: "If the other candidate had won it could have put the JCR in a difficult position. The tribunal was unfortunate, but in hindsight it is good for the student body in that it has strengthened the result." Sivapalan added that "it was good to get a definitive result" and expressed his desire to continue working in the JCR. Both men agreed that the bigger turnout of voters was good.
The position of Female Welfare Officer was also decided, with Susan Kulkarni gaining a higher number of votes than Paola Ruffell for the second time. Kulkarni told the Oxford Student that she believed the JCR was now "satisfied that the electoral process had been fairly exercised". Defeated Ruffell said the result was no surprise: "I hadn't expected a different result from the original one."
However, the position of Male Welfare Officer remains up in the air, with a tie of 113 votes each for the two candidates, compared to the 3 vote margin that Gianni Saccomani received in the original poll.
Saccomani and his rival Jamal Demachkie discussed the matter shortly after the results were announced and decided that a coin toss was not a just way to decide the job. Instead it was agreed that whoever won the coin toss would call a further tribunal to explore the possibility of a job share. Subsequently, Saccomani called a tribunal which will happen in the next couple of days.
Demachkie said: "some say that a job share wouldn't work, and the executive aren't convinced, but I think this would be the best solution." Saccomani seemed less committed, saying he "hadn't really thought about it yet." However, he submitted: "The JCR think we are both good enough for the job and I think a job share would work." Kulkarni, Female Welfare Officer, stated that in her opinion "a job share could be really beneficial for everyone in college as one is in the first year and one in the second year."
Demachkie expressed "comfort" at the fact that there were only 5 votes for RON out of the large electorate.
However, both Male Welfare Officer contenders conceded that "anything could happen", adding, "we will have to wait and see."
8th Jun 2001