Cole Defends Elections Revamp

To listen to the full feature-length interview and to get Ali Cole’s thoughts on the state of Loughborough’s democracy when he inherited it, what he thinks he will be judged on at the end of his time in office and how he intends to reform the election process, click play: Ali Cole Interview

Ali Cole has moved to justify his wide-ranging changes to the Executive Elections, amid concerns from some individuals on campus that he has gone too far.

The information pack was published last week and revealed a new £100 budget, a shortening of the election period to ten days and a reform of the pre-campaigning regulations, as well as changes to the hustings format.

Speaking to Jago Pearson in an exclusive feature-length interview for The Epinal, the Union’s Vice President for Democracy and Communications set out a vision of elections over the next few years where “all candidates are on a level-playing field when they start”.

He said that the introduction of a £100 budget would make for an “interesting” debate at tomorrow’s Union Council and acknowledged that it will potentially take place in the context of the vested interests of many people due to run come February.

“I fully expect a number of people running to be there. I think councilors need to be wary of these people […] They (the rules) should be there to please the electorate as a whole.

“Obviously, the candidates who are running need to be happy with them, to an extent, because obviously they are the one’s that are going to be abiding by them and the won’t run if they’re not happy.

“I’d like to urge councilors and I hope councilors see straight through these people. Their arguments are actually selfishly based, not based on the future of the democratic processes of the Union.”

Cole has the support of Elections Committee, of which includes former Council Chair James Carroll, but a handful of councillors have spoken to The Epinal expressing their concerns. Some tweets last Thursday also highlighted some of the issues felt by students.

Zak Evans, Chair of Hazlerigg-Rutland Hall, commented:

“Surely the less well known people would find it harder to get their name out with a lesser budget? […] I think this pack is the best I’ve seen and @VPDemocracyLSU has done a job! Just think it limits who will run.”

Former Towers Hall Vice-Chair, George Martindale, said:

“Exec candidates pack is online, very interesting however I don’t think I am gonna get many free sweets this year with a £100 budget #gutted”

Having binned the light-hearted Hustings and created a new two-day event designed to encourage more serious policy debates and candidate scrutiny, Ali Cole further told The Epinal that the old “EHB Hustings had lost its focus and purpose and that’s why we got rid of it.”

He explained that the new Union Hustings will in fact be a hybrid between last year’s Union and Media Hustings and will draw inspiration from LSUTV’s Bubble Debate, in which a panel discusses the issues of the day in front of a select audience.

Cole hopes to eliminate low turnout at these live events, previously dominated by campaign teams, as well as making the time more insightful and engaging for students.

“I want it to be like an elections chat show. So we’ll have a presenter that can sustain this great back and forth between the candidates, we’re going to take away the two minute speeches […] we’re going to have a chance for the candidates to bounce off each other, bounce off the presenter, bounce off their predecessor and also get scrutiny from the audience.”

To listen to the full feature-length interview and to get Ali Cole’s thoughts on the state of Loughborough’s democracy when he inherited it, what he thinks he will be judged on at the end of his time in office and how he intends to reform the election process, click play: Ali Cole Interview

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