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Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) has announced the results of their 2015 by-election at an event held in Teviot’s debating hall. The Student was present to witness the results.
As the modestly-sized audience left the hall following the EUSA sabbatical officers’ presentation of the results, The Student asked EUSA President Jonny Ross-Tatam for his opinion on the outcome of the by-election.
Ross-Tatam expressed enthusiasm for the new intake of EUSA office-holders, saying, “It’s fantastic for all those who have won, they are now officially joining the students’ association team. They’re going to work together with us, the full-time sabbatical officers, to gets things done for students this year so I’m really looking forward to working with them.
“But also, big congratulations to people who even stood in the elections. You know, it’s a big achievement in itself to get your name out there, to get your ideas out there, and I really hope to see as many of them working together with us as well, even if they didn’t win the election.”
The positions which received the most attention from voters were those of Student Trustee, with Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller receiving most of the 283 total votes, Women’s Liberation Convener, with attracted 258 votes and resulted in Maia Almeida-Amar seizing victory, and the positions of Academic Campaign Organiser (287 votes, with Joshua Hope as winner) and 1st Year Academic Campaign Organiser (264 votes, leading to a victory for Emelie Shepherd).
However, some positions recieved votes in the single digits. When asked about voter turnout, Ross-Tatam admitted, “[Turnout] was okay. I think we expected it might be slightly lower, because there are fewer candidates standing, there are fewer positions available […] therefore, lower turnout. But we have learned a little bit as a sabbatical team about how we can get the messages out there about the best, most effective ways to campaign.”
The sabbatical officers, Ross-Tatam told The Student, intend to encourage ways of campaigning effectively and gathering enthusiasm for student politics during the more popular main EUSA election in March.
Asked about the what next step EUSA would be taking in the wake of the by-election, Ross-Tatam said, “We will get in touch with [the candidates], particularly the people who have won. […] All of the school conveners and campaign organisers actually have a really big role to play because we can’t do everything ourselves. And working together this year, over issues that affect students, we can really make some change, particularly in the schools, where they’re so devolved that the school vice-conveners and conveners almost have as much influence if not more than EUSA sabbatical officers. So we need to work with them to get things done in their schools, and it’s the same with the campaign organisers. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The EUSA 2015 by-election winners are listed by category, in the order they were announced, below:
Liberation Conveners, Section Group Conveners, and Campaign Organisers
–
Parents and Carers Section Group Convener
Hannah Adzakpa
Postgraduate Student Section Group Convener
William Clayton
Women’s Liberation Convener
Maia Almeida-Amir
1st Year Academic Campaign Organiser
Emelie Shepherd
Academic Campaign Organiser
Joshua Hope
1st Year External Campaign Organiser
Tom Greenstein
1st Year Welfare Campaign Organiser
Emma Scott
School Conveners
–
Biological Sciences School Vice Convener (Undergraduate)
Noraina Jamal Rashid
Biological Sciences School Vice Convener (Postgraduate)
Rachel Mellon
Veterinary Sciences Postgraduate School Vice Convener
Conor O’Halloran
Social and Political Science Postgraduate School Vice Convener
Lauren Else
Business School Postgraduate Vice Convener
Jordan Wagner
History, Classics and Archaelogy Postgraduate School Vice Convener
Alex Kops
Medical Schools Postgraduate Vice Convener
Babalola Ibisola
Biomedical Sciences Postgraduate School Vice Convener
Kumar Uddipto
Engineering Postgraduate School Vice Convener
[Vote re-opened]
Engineering Undergraduate School Vice Convenor
Wayne Chang
Education (Moray House) School Convener
Lauren Ryznar
Education (Moray House) Postgraduate School Convener
Kelly McBride
Literatures, Languages & Cultures Postgraduate School Vice Convener
YN Gan
Divinity Postgraduate School Vice Convener
George Walters-Sleyon
Physics and Astronomy Postgraduate School Vice Convener
David Grabner
Trustee Board and Trading Committee
–
Trading Committee, Student Bars Convener
Arduin Findels
Trading Committee, Student Catering Convener
Adam Kijowski
Trading Committee, Student Entertainment Convener
Fanny Hajdu
Trading Committee, Student Art Convener
Mila Rocha
Student Trustee
Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller
National Union of Students
–
NUS UK Delegates
Hannah Roques
Melanie Erspamer
Dharmesh Kumar
Urte Macikene
Harriet Protheroe-Davis
Theo Robertson-Bonds
Imogen Wilson
Julian Xu
NUS Scotland Delegates
Hannah Roques
Esther Dominy
Vijay Jackson
Harriet Protheroe-Davis