Wadham Presidential candidate RONed amidst electoral row
An overwhelming RON vote was returned from last Thursday's Student Union Presidential elections at Wadham College, after students actively campaigned to Re-Open Nominations.
Although current SU Treasurer John Jenkins and first year student Adam Craig both stood for the position, RON beat the second-placed Jenkins by a clear margin, with a 51 vote majority.
Conor O'Neill and Lewis Atkinson, who ran the RON campaign, told The OxStu: "Neither candidate was suited to the job of President."
The SU vice-president at Wadham, Sachin Patel, described the hustings as "democratic," but admitted to The OxStu that the RON campaign had been "aggressive," with tactics including putting fliers in every student's pigeon hole.
Jenkins, the serious candidate to Craig's "joke" campaign, will next year be a finalist - one of the major concerns raised by those who opposed him.
He has questioned an election format which can allow "two or three people... to dominate proceedings and effectively veto a candidate that is not to their liking."
He will, however, be standing again, this time as the sole candidate in today's re-election.
He now pledges to serve only one term as President before new elections are held in Michaelmas next year.
Current SU President Rob Vance believes that the electoral system rather than the candidates was chiefly to blame.
An amendment to the SU constitution means that from this year the term of SU presidency will run from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, instead of beginning in Hilary Term. Vance told The OxStu: "Candidates who may have come forward in Michaelmas were put off running in the election by Mods."
A motion will be brought to Wadham SU to revert to the former Michaelmas to Michaelmas term of office.
Vance told The OxStu: "Jenkins is an experienced and competent candidate, but unfortunately a second year," and he hopes that by holding new elections next term Wadham SU will be brought "back on track".
20th May 2004