KCLSU Election Candidates have been forcing female students into voting, again

Candidates for the upcoming KCLSU elections have been seen pressuring students into voting for them on the spot all over campus this past week. Last year The Tab King's reported incidents of similar behaviour from KCLSU candidates, and it seems that nothing has changed this time around.

Video footage obtained by The King's Tab shows one candidate standing over a female student directing her as she votes on a laptop.

KCL Intersectional Feminist Society has publicly called out the "tactics of intimidation" employed by the candidates, saying they have "undermined the principles of democracy" of the SU.

Though students had been making fun of some of the election candidates "pestering" earlier this week on Kiss College London, some students reached out to us on Facebook to share their stories.

One student told The Tab King's that a candidate "had the audacity to come to my table and ask me why I'm taking photos and videos" after he caught the candidate forcing students to vote in the Strand cafeteria, with another student sharing a similar story of being "persistently asked to scan [a] qr code when sitting in the vegan cafe."

In a public Google Doc, KCL Intersectional Feminist Society claims candidates have purposely targeted women of colour on campus. They said: "On International Women’s Day, it is our duty to voice our concerns regarding the worrying accounts of harassment of women and non-binary students on campus that have been associated with the KCLSU elections.

"There have been widespread concerns about the conduct of numerous candidates in this year’s elections. The candidates in question have undermined the principles of democracy that our Students’ Union should be built on by employing tactics of intimidation that have been targeted at women, with a specific focus on women of colour."

The document has gathered over 80 signatures in the last couple of hours.

The petition encourages students to report these allegations to KCLSU on [email protected] and [email protected], to "ensure that the perpetrators of these reprehensible actions are held accountable and not allowed to represent us based on an election that has been compromised."

They have also provided students with a template letter, which can be found here. All footage and evidence has been emailed to KCLSU.

The Tab King's reached out to King's and KCLSU for a response, and will update this as soon as we receive a comment from them.