AMATEY DOKU SMASHES OPPOSITION, WINS LANDSLIDE

Amatey Doku has won a stupendous victory in this year’s fiercely contested CUSU Presidential elections,  winning a huge 1671 votes, leaving rivals Angus Satow (615), Cornelius Roemer (427), and John Sime (247) in the dust. 

Other triumphant politicos included Sophie Buck for Welfare officer (with 1364 votes),  Audrey Sebatindira for Women’s Officer (with 805), Roberta Huldisch elected Education Officer uncontested, and Eireann Attridge elected Access and Funding officer, also uncontested.

This years CUSU election was an unusually contentious one, partially because it was actually contested. The sheer range of candidate policies, from Angus Satow’s plan to further empower the controversial autonomous campaigns, to John Sime’s proposed wall between Girton and Cambridge, led to some divisive and impassioned debates.

A massive desk for a massive win

However, the pleasant and professional Amatey stole the show from the very start, quickly emerging as the informal favourite, cementing his lead with a charming campaign video and a generally inoffensive campaign. Despite questions from Satow as to whether Amatey had waited so long to release policies because he was copying other candidates, his campaign seems to have struck a chord with students.

Angus Satow failed to build on the enormous momentum that had been generated by his influential divestment campaign, and was typecast early on as a single issue candidate. By far the most experienced of the pack, former Trinity Prez Cornelius Roemer was immediately forced to deny his image as “the establishment candidate”.

His campaign was then dogged by shocking claims of misogyny and dictatorial behaviour,  made by his former colleagues at the Trin JCR. John Sime’s campaign, noted for boldly declaring he was “not a posh fuckboy”, failed to gather steam; his recent switch to Trump style campaign tactics was apparently too little, too late.

No black balloons for the victory party

And the drama certainly did not end there; the contest for Welfare officer become a bitter fight, with escalating accusations of lying and general mud-slinging from both camps.  Incumbent Poppy Ellis-Logan took the unusual step of running for her position again, leading to clashes with Sophie Buck on her contentious record in office. Logan was swept out however, as Sophie took a commanding lead in the votes, winning 1364 to 769.

The election for Women’s officer, a position that has come under scrutiny following allegations of a CUSU sanctioned drug ring operating in the WomCam autonomous campaign, kicked off to a wacky start with rumours that a “man” was running for the position. Sadly this individual dropped out, and the ensuing contest was a fairly civil one. FLY campaigner Audrey Sebatindira won with 805 votes, ahead of former Queens’ JCR Women’s representative Connie Muttock, with 391.

Where is the wall? #ImWithSime #2K16

Overall, the election has been a unique and consistently shocking one. The biggest winners here are arguably the autonomous liberation campaigns – candidates, like Cornelius Roemer and John Sime, who pledged to deal with the campaigns controversial and ambiguous ‘autonomy’ and to firmly settle allegations of misconduct or misrepresentation, were utterly devastated in the polls.

Roemer, a frequent critic of CUSU, the media, and voters in general, said “The coverage seemed rather superficial at times at the level of ‘He’s got a nice voice’. This was certainly partly due to fact that very few people actually care about CUSU and thus focus on whatever fun bit they can find.”

Tab Tips was awash with anonymous hurt feelings and sore losers: “Congratulations to the students of Cambridge for electing an NUS delegate who skipped the campaign’s one debate to go to the Labour students conference. Hope you enjoy him ignoring your opinions to vote in lockstep with Labour Students bloc at every opportunity”.

Another wrote, “I was fucking cheated! This is total bullshit. I should have fucking won. Fuck sake.” And one eagle eyed observer pointed out, “Did you know that CUSU won’t have had a straight white man as president for at least 8 years?”

And finally, “I didn’t even want the job anyway so fuck you.”