Hala Haidar, BA Global Development
The 2023 SU Elections process began with nominations opening on 13 February at 10 a.m. On 22 February, the SU hosted an Election Information Session. Four days later, nominations closed. On 28 February, there was a candidate meeting, and later that day, candidates were finally announced.
The day after, a Campaign Training Session was held where candidates were shown the dos and don’ts of campaigning. On 3 March, Hustings were held, and it was an opportunity for the student body to be introduced to the sabbatical officer candidates in person and hear them talk about why they should be elected. Each candidate was given three minutes to speak, and then the audience was given the opportunity to ask each candidate three questions, with the candidates having one minute to respond to each question. Immediately following the end of Hustings, campaigning began—candidates were not allowed to campaign or seek endorsements from societies or campaigns before this.
For the paid, full-time, sabbatical officer roles, there were six candidates running for Co-President of Activities & Events, six candidates for Co-President for Democracy & Education, five candidates for Co-President of Equality & Liberation, and three candidates for Co-President of Welfare & Campaigns. As for the voluntary, part-time SU officer roles, seven candidates were running for the role of NUS Delegate, two candidates for Anti-Racism Officer, one candidate for Arts and Culture Officer, five candidates for International Students Officer, one candidate for Students Against Securitisation and Surveillance, one candidate for Sustainability Officer, and no candidates for Mental Health Officer, Afrikan Studies Officer, or Cost of Living Campaigns Officer. The full-time sabbatical officer positions would begin in July 2023 and last until next August 2023; however, the part-time SU officer roles are running from March 2023 until 31 July 2023, except for the NUS delegate, which was only for a short duration. The delegate attended a training session on 13 March before going on to represent SOAS students at the NUS Conference held on 15 and 16 March. It seems that the roles with zero candidates will just go unfulfilled.
Voting began on 6 March at 10 a.m. and ended on 9 March at 4 p.m. It was an intense period of campaigning as candidates scrambled to convince their peers why they should vote for them. Results were announced on 10 March at 5 p.m. They are as follows:
- Co-President of Activities & Events: Maryam Choudhary
- Co-President for Democracy & Education: Reem Walid
- Co-President of Equality & Liberation: Jamal Akram
- Co-President of Welfare & Campaigns: Sushant Singh
- NUS Delegate: Sushant Singh
- Anti-Racism Officer: Myron Clarke Michaelides
- Arts and Culture Officer: Ravi Agarwal
- International Students Officer: Harshul Singh
- Students Against Securitisation and Surveillance: Sam Landis
- Sustainability Officer: Vishnu P R