More Wye Elections cause grief
With many elections coming under-fire in recent months, it would appear that this pattern is due to continue. The recent Wye Overseas Students Organisations (OSO) elections have been the latest to prove controversial.
According to a recent, anonymous complaint, received by Felix last week, the amount of corruption possible in an election has reached new heights.
In the past, the OSO has conducted its handover via the selection of new Officers under the discretion of the out-going President. This year, for the first time, this was replaced by the regular hustings and election process, favoured by many governing bodies of the Union.
Opening the elections to all members of the Union, it has been claimed that the current out-going President, Mr Varun Sarda, allowed non-members of ICU to vote and was spotted “stuffing voting slips into the ballot box, claiming he was voting on behalf of others whom he spoke to on the phone earlier”, whilst informing other voters that telephonic voting was not allowed.
During the count, held in public, Mr Sarda was heard to mention to the current Treasurer that he himself had not voted, after which they both “did some obscure ticking”.
At first count, John Erkoyuncu was announced President with a cheerful “you’ve won, man”. When the audience enquired after the score, it proved to be a tie of 33 votes to each Presidential candidate. Mr Sarda then decided to extend the vote for an hour, unexpectedly allowing phone voting. An hour later, Erkoyuncu was again announced as the winner, however a “private investigation” by a complainant revealed that the results were in favour of the second Presidential candidate.
When asked, numerous observers and voters, many of whom wish to remain anonymous, believed the results to be “unfair”, “dishonest”, “biased” and “ridiculous”. Interestingly, Mr John Erkoyuncu believed the proceedings to be “fair” with “each candidate being given equal opportunities”. This has also been questioned as many supporters of Mr Erkoyuncu were seen trying to rally voters around the Campus with cries of “come and vote in the OSO elections … make sure you vote for John”. When asked why Mr Erkoyuncu should receive our votes, however, no specific answers were given.
It is also believed that one of those involved in the “farcical” proceedings was recently voted onto the Wye Union Executive Committee, however, due to recent occurrences, these results also have yet to be confirmed.
With calls for a re-run and an investigation, it is possible to ask whether it is necessary to run an election when the results have already been decided. Surely the demographic society of Imperial College should be questioning these proceedings and asking who is willing to oversee the equality of societal affairs.
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