General insanity ensues
Nominations for the VUWSA General Elections have now been open for just over one week, with the opportunity to run for a position in the VUWSA Executive in 2011 closing this Friday at 4.30pm.
Current VUWSA Welfare Vice-President Seamus Brady and Gao Yuan are standing for the role of President in 2011.
Yuan is also nominated for Vice-President (Welfare), Education Officer and International Students Officer.
Richard Carr, Bridie Hood and Conrad Reyners will all stand for their respective positions of Vice-President (Administration),Vice-President (Education) and University Council Representative again in 2011.
The roles of Women’s Rights Officer, Queer Officer, Environmental Officer, Clubs Officer, Activities Officer, Welfare Officer, Campaigns Officer, Education Officer and two Publications Committee positions had received no nominations when Salient went to print.
There is also a rumour that ACT on Campus President Peter McCaffrey will stand for VUWSA President. The Facebook page ‘Peter McCaffrey’ features a display picture with the text ‘President McCaffrey’, a statement that McCaffrey is currently running for VUWSA President and a number of messages of support.
When contacted by Salient to confirm whether he intended to run, McCaffrey replied with “No comment ;)”.
Despite being appointed on Friday 3 September, Returning Officer only contacted Salient with election details late last week. Salient has still not received official voter turnout figures from the VUWSA by-election in early August, despite making several requests for these figures.
Voting runs from Friday 1 October until Thursday 7 October, when results of the election will be announced. Students will be able to vote either online or at polling stations located on campus.
A Candidates Forum, which gives candidates the chance to sell themselves to students, will take place in the week before voting starts.
Salient will feature election updates and information over the course of the election, including an interview with presidential candidates.
Candidates’ profiles will appear in Issue 23 of Salient, which will be released on Monday 4 October. Final results of the General Election will be included in the final issue of Salient.