RON landslide at Merton
Members of Merton college rejected both presidential candidates to vote overwhelmingly in favour of reopening nominations (RON) at the JCR elections last Friday. First year candidates Meg He and Sam Jones both failed to gain a majority of the electorate’s support, giving a landslide victory to RON. Under the Alternative Vote System, voters rank candidates in order of preference, with the votes cast for the lowest-ranked candidate redistributed according to voters’ second preferences.
At the first count, RON received 124 votes, which was almost as much as the combined support for He and Jones, who obtained 68 and 64 votes respectively. When Jones’ votes were redistributed, more than half of his supporters favoured reopening nominations over supporting He’s candidacy. By the final count, He had only gained 92 votes, less than 40% of the total votes cast. In the weeks running up to the election, a number of Merton students ran a campaign to reopen the nominations.
A thread on the Oxford Gossip website contained over 34 pages of discussion and speculation over the elections, with several students registering their disappointment with hustings. In response to the pressure, Merton medic Aaron Borbora designed a mock poster to encourage other students to reject the current candidates.
It featured details of RON’s experience, saying, “He has been elected JCR President in Oxford at least twice in the last four years, and is endorsed by at least 50% of Oxford Gossip’s users.” Borbora told The Oxford Student, “I don’t have anything against either candidate and even voted for one of them. “I felt quite bad for the candidates when the result was announced, as the RON manifesto was a joke.
However, by the day of the elections the publicity surrounding the campaign had produced a 72% turnout of JCR students and 15% of MCR students. Returning Officer Gavin Freegard, who announced the result, said, “We were really impressed with the number of students who turned up. It definitely showed how important the JCR is to the college.” He added that he did not think the result was anything personal. “Both candidates were good.
I think people just wanted to run it again in case a few more came forward.” Outgoing Merton JCR President James Lamming said, “The incredibly high turnout amongst the JCR suggests they care a lot about who they want as President next year. “The RON vote did not so much appear to be a personal attack on either candidate, but rather the JCR wanting to make sure we got the best person for the job.” Sam Jones spoke of his disappointment at the result.
He said, “I was annoyed with all the Oxford Gossip posts. But you live and learn. It’s not a disaster.” Jones now plans to run for Entz Officer. Meg He said, “Merton students take their elections very seriously, and a lot of second and third years were against supporting either of us.“ I think they didn’t vote for Sam because they were concerned he lacked experience. I think they didn’t vote for me because I do so many other things and they doubted my commitment.
?? Over her first year, He has held positions as managing director of OSPL, the co-chair of OUSU Academic Affairs Committee and the Merton student representative at OUSU Council. She added that despite her disappointment, she had resolved to run again. “Last year’s President got less votes than I did, but the turnout was worse. I think all the RON campaign managed was to do successfully was turn apathy into RON-votes.
18th May 2006