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Saturday 22nd November, 2008

Election Count Halted

Posted: Feb 26th 2003, 10:14

The count for this year's sabbatical elections was halted when one of the candidates refused to acknowledge that the election had been run properly.

The process has been plagued by complaints, such that meetings of the elections committee and Union Executive took five hours after the close of the polls. Executive upheld the disqualification of Ahmeet Bhakta for use of unfair publicity after he appealed an earlier Elections Committee ruling. Another complaint about Mr Arif's publicity was thrown out, as was a complaint about a ballot-box steward examining students' voting slips.

A complaint about balloting at the Charing Cross campus was also thrown out, though Katherine McGinn (a candidate, but not one affected by the alleged irregularity) appealed to the Executive who also dismissed the complaint. She suggested that the ballot box steward was advising students which presidential candidate deserved their vote.

The complaint that has stopped the count asserts that the Returning Officer, Sen Ganesh, did not run the elections properly (not, as previously implied, that a formal complaint was to be appealed). Mr Arif told Felix that he was happy to sign a declaration declaring that he would not contest the result, but "just not one that says Sen ran it properly". He added that he hoped the count could begin as soon as possible.

It is now thought the vote will be counted next week, however the final result may not be known until all appeals and complaints have been heard by Council on 10th March.

Link to this article:

Comments

Re: Election Count Halted

can't elections that the candidate wasn't involved in be counted? Some of us want to know what's happened. Is it likely that elections will be reopened?

Re: Election Count Halted

This is all getting out of hand. Whatever the results, whichever way they go, someone's going to have a problem. I'm sure we can all guess who. I'm a very competitive person, but tactics such as this are dirty, underhand and shouldn't be allowed. Especially in the running for such a position. The winner should be able to beat his opposition fairly, not in this way. I'm probably going to get bombarded for this, but it'll proably be easier if we all start again and get it right (yes, believe me, I know how much work this means for myself as well as anyone else).

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

less cryptic please, I'm not up with what's happened

Re: Election Count Halted

Ina nutshell, there's been loads of complaints, as I'm sure you know. It's possible that the results won't be out for some time. Basically, I'm saying that whoever wins, someone else is bound to complain about it. In a way, I think the whole thing should be restarted and we should make sure it's done right, although it will mean putting all this work in all over again. I don't think the elections will be reopened tho. I think that's more stress than Sen and the rest of us could take. Is that any better J?

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

In a nutshell, our esteemed President couldn't organise a piss-up with whores in a brewery-owned brothel. Had he shown even a smidgen of leadership during these elections, and taken action when irregularities were reported instead of his usual flustering and flummocking, we might have had a count last night. It has NEVER been this bad, even under President Hellard.

Andy H

Re: Election Count Halted

The irregularity that has stopped the count WAS dealt with at the time that the irregularity was reported. As far as other complaints go I - as a candidate - have no complaints about the timing of the actions of the returning officer. I wil however admit that it has all got a bit silly.

Alex

Re: Election Count Halted

oops. thought about exactly what you meant- andy H - and realised that we both have a point. Had exec met earlier to hear the appeal, then things would indeed have run more smoothly.

Alex

Re: Election Count Halted

Who gives a damn anyway? As far as I can remember all Union elections have been like this - and whoever gets in the Union is still going to be run by the same jockey hacks living their lives in magical Unionland. No wonder Imperial students are so apathetic. The last candidate we had who truly had the backing of the students was disqualified for something as ridiculous as posters on trees. Now the outcome of these elections is so predictable I don't know why we bother with having them. Why not let Andy Heeps be president every year? It makes no difference to the rest of us...

Titi H

Re: Election Count Halted

The disqualified candidate did not have the backing of the students. He would have lost anyway. He was disqualified after two unsuccessful appeals because he had clearly made a calculation that cheating was the best way to help him win. Experience suggests that elections are not always predictable either. A few years ago, it was practically fatal to be considered the 'favourite' in a presidential election.

Hamish

Re: Election Count Halted

I've updated the article with some extra information. Thanks for the feedback!

Alisdair Wren

Re: Election Count Halted

Can you tell us which box it is? If it's the Wye one I'm going to get very pissed off with someone very very quickly.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

that complaint's not about the Wye box... don't worry.

Alex

Re: Election Count Halted

So do we have any ides when the count will go ahead? The Soic interview shows Sen saying that they are going to wait until the Exec meeting on the 10th. Surely they can't make everyone wait until then? It's just cruel! PS, Alex, this is getting funnier by the minute. Check your email.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

Shit, sorry. Forgot there was more than one Alex.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

was me... is all very silly indeed.

Alex

Voting Slip Examination

The complaint regarding the examination of voting slips also contained a rather more serious implication that the person manning the ballot box was influencing people on how to vote, for one post in particular... just felt that should be made clear.

Alex

Re: Election Count Halted

is there any way of setting up this page so it isn't twice as wide as the screen?

Re: Election Count Halted

This *should* fit on an 800x600 monitor - most people operate at much greater resolutions. Please e-mail online.felix@ic.ac.uk with details of your problem and I'll look into it. Meanwhile, I've been doing a little bit of surgery to prevent duplicate comments and to add dates/times to the discussion. I hope you like. Al.

Alisdair Wren

Disqualification of one candidate

I think everyone who read the article will know whom I'm talking about. It is known that the person who handed out felix in lectures with the candidate's manifesto highlighted did never have any authorisation by that candidate to be a part of his election campaign. Couldn't it be that that person was acting on behalf of someone else and in favour of another candidate?! Afterall, the person to blame was involved in the union for more than 3 years and he should know better!!! I would like to see re-elections, with ALL the candidates and correct election procedures. If we want our union to change and to matter, we need to stand up and demand a correct election. For far too long our union was run as a half-arsed job.

minuch

Re: Election Count Halted

Oh, come on! You're kidding me right? Haven't we had enough of this by now?!? What you're suggesting is that one of the other candidates sent someone into a lecture with Ameet's manifesto highlighted, just so they could get Ameet disqualified? You must be on something. I understand that a few underhand tactics have been going on, but that's just pushing the boat out waaaaaaay too far. Even if the person who handed the manifesto's out has been "involved in the Union for more than 3 years" that doesn't mean that IF (and I say if) he is a friend of Ameet and campaigning for him he might forget or be willing to hand things out without thinking twice. Whether Ameet was to blame or not, he should be responsible for those campaining for him and be able to respect the decision of the Council. Plus, he didn't deny it.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

I don't suggest anything. But why should Ahmeet be responsible for people who are not running his campaign?! And that person who is involved in the union for 3 years knows better for a fact. If he is a friend of Ahmeet, he definitely didn't help. All I'm saying is that I think it would be for the better having new elections than waiting for ages until a decision has been made. That might be quicker.

minuch

Re: Election Count Halted

I really don't mean to be rude, but did you have anything to do with the running of the elections at all?

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

no, but does it matter? This is just what I think and my opinions, and as far as I know I am allowed to say what I think.

minuch

Re: Election Count Halted

Yes! Of course it bloody well matters! If you'd got involved with the Elections, then you might have realised how much hard work actually went into them that you don't know about! I'd like to see any elections done fairly, but I am not willing to give up as much time as I in the last few weeks again! If people actually realised how much stress is involved in things like this then we wouldn't have people complaining so much!

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

look, I know people who are involved in the elections. I know just how much stress it is. I'm sorry that I seem to upset you through my thoughts. As you said, I would like to see the elections done fairly. But I think that re elections are unlikely. So I am expressing my thoughts on that. I didn't meant to be disrespectful to anyone involved in the elections, as they gave up a lot of time, just to point that out!

minuch

Re: Election Count Halted

temper

Re: Election Count Halted

temper? what temper? :p I'm just defending all the time I spent fussing over something that's all gone, well, tits up really.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

Its also not just a matter of time and money. To the best of my knowledge the various pissings-about have - to the satisfaction of the candidates - not affected the outcome to the extent that they would like to see a re-run. Do you really think that more union money should be directed away from Clubs and Socs so that the farce can be repeated?

Alex

Re: Election Count Halted

Not all at. That would make things worse. Knowing our luck, it would come out of the Wye budget.

Beci

Re: Election Count Halted

Really, just to make sure that I got my point across. I respect the people that made the elections possible and I feel quite sorry for them, as at the moment it seems as if they have wasted their time. So again, what I said was not meant as criticism against those people!

minuch

Re: Election Count Halted

I know. I do rather feel as if I've wasted my time doing all that now, when i could've been going to lectures and concentrating on more important things in life.

Beci

Mustafa signs!

Mustafa has now signed a reworded paper. Watch him read out his reworded document and explain the crucial differences at http://www.stoictv.com/index.php?url_channel_id=9&url_publish_channel_id=104&well_id=2

Judith

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Election Count Halted

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