Unsuccessful elections candidate accuses SU President of influencing voters

An outraged election candidate has accused SU President Charlie Roper of using his influential position to lobby on behalf of particular candidates in this year’s election. 

Josh Connor, who came third in the presidential elections, has told The Tab he’s unhappy that Charlie spent voting week openly endorsing certain candidates, including Jack Poulson who was running for SU President.

A message appearing to come from Charlie Roper’s phone was sent to multiple students suggesting they voted particular candidates into power. Every single person in Roper’s message was successfully elected.

The message in question

When spoken to by The Tab, Charlie confirmed that he had run Jack Poulson’s successful campaign for the SU presidency but insisted he saw no conflict of interest between doing that and the responsibilities of his role, which included hosting the candidates’ question time.

Charlie said: “I used my own holiday to help these candidates, having fully declared my interest to the Students’ Union”.

Josh feels it was unfair for the current President to openly endorse particular candidates

However, Josh told The Tab he feels that isn’t sufficient.

“Technically he may have been off work that week and not acting as the SU President, but you can’t take a week off from that role in the eyes of the public.

“There’s a mountain of shit to uncover.”

This year’s elections saw a record turnout of 4,370 voters.