Only three of the seven candidates running in the Lincoln Students’ Union by-elections turned up to answer students questions at a hustings event held on their first day of campaigning.
Around a dozen students were in the Zing cafe on Friday afternoon to hear the manifestos of the candidates, despite the location saying “TBC” on the SU website.
Sport officer candidates John Fernandez and Philip Harvey spent their allocated 90 seconds putting across why they think students should vote for them.
Philip Harvey said he wanted there to “be a platform for crossovers of sports and societies” and a “higher level of competition” in the university. He pointed out how bare the trophy cabinet in the SU offices looked and suggested that the university’s teams were good enough to compete against teams from Sheffield and Nottingham.
John Fernandez said he would promote “the little sports that people sometimes forget” if he was elected as sports officer. He said that sports were a “great way to meet people and keep fit”, and he wanted to publicize results online rather than just showing them on the big screens at club night Fever Pitch.
The third candidate running for sports officer, Komal Ramasawmy, failed to show up to the event.
Francesca Anderson, who is running for one of the two NUS delegate posts up for election, was the final candidate to stand up on stage at the hustings event.
She said that “students in Lincoln deserve a bigger voice” and to have their views put across “at a national level”. She believes that “other universities can learn a lot from Lincoln” and that students should be better informed about what happens at NUS meeting.
The rest of the candidates, who are running unopposed for their roles, failed to show up to the event. They are not guaranteed election though as students can vote for RON instead – to re-open nominations and repeat the election process for that position.
Voting opens Monday, October 31st at 9am and shuts at noon on Thursday, with results being announced in the Tower Bar later that evening.