0.01% Turnout In ULU Hustings Farce

Stowed away in Room 2A of the Malet Street building, last night’s ULU Presidential By-Election hustings attracted a meagre 26 people as the candidates made their electoral statements ahead of next week’s election.

Of the small attendance, two were journalists, one was the cameraman, two were browsing on their iPads and one student sat in the corner playing Doodle Jump on his phone; a sad indictment of the interest in ULU politics at present.

All candidates addressed the need to generate more interest in elections among ULU’s vast student body in their two minute speeches, with less than 1% of the electorate likely to vote in the forthcoming election.

Michael Chessum- Big Name on Campus

The two candidates from UCL  were among the most impressive speakers. Michael Chessum, in his final year reading History, regularly participates in student activism and spoke of his involvement in the 20th October TUC demo, the only candidate to do so, when asked by the floor if they attended.

William Hall- perhaps Chessum’s closest rival.

His fellow Presidential candidate from UCL, William Hall, told The Tab “Our chances as a campaign are very good. There are a lot of students who have been alienated by student unions taking stances on issues that don’t improve education.”

“A lot of students feel that student union officers are more interested in pushing their own political agenda rather than working to get better libraries, academic feedback and generally improve the way ULU works as a resource for students”

Hall also expressed his disappointment at the attendance. He tweeted: ” Good hustings event at #ulu last night, real shame that it was attended by less than 0.01% of voters and not live-streamed online for all.”

Hall went on to state that he felt the low turnout was due to “divisive student leaders who just want to stamp their own views on students” and by doing so have put people off university politics.