RON Seals It

He is the election rival every candidate fears.

And on Saturday night, RON ruined Harry Kind and Shyam Thakerar’s JCR presidency dreams, as St John’s students opted to Re-Open Nominations.

Harry Kind, talking to The Tab, took his defeat by RON gracefully: “I’m used to losing elections by now (this was my fourth…maybe I should have got the hint earlier) but I really think that Shyam, my opponent, deserved to win.”

The Final Result

However, before the results were finalised, the fairness of the voting was cast into doubt.

After votes were counted, current JCR President, Uche Ukachi, circulated an email declaring the elections invalid.

In the email, he said: “This is because of the discrepancy between the number of people who voted and ballot papers. The difference would have been of high importance to the outcome.”

St. John’s – or St. RON’s as some are already calling it

An electoral tribunal was called the next morning. They decided the voting was in fact fair, saying that the discrepancy was within error and not the result of multiple voting.

JCR President Ukachi explained to us what happened: “The number of votes  was more than the number of people signed down to vote, so we decided that it was in the interest of the JCR to call a tribunal. I think I might have generated some confusion by announcing invalidation rather than suspension, but we couldn’t announce results without first finding out why we were out by 9 votes.

“The discrepancy was due to a handful of JCR members that didn’t have their names taken when they balloted.

“The JCR elections are a democratic process and every member of the JCR is given the opportunity to vote. We held hustings on Wednesday and there’s video recording for the benefit of those absent. On this occasion, the student body has decided to Re-Open Nominations.

“As far as I’m aware, there was no RON Campaign. It’s worth noting that the JCR committee is constantly in competition with societies for available talents. I hope all this doesn’t deter prospective candidates from running for the position of JCR President. It’s a privilege to be elected to serve and it brings significant opportunities for personal development.”

Pleased..An artist’s impression of RON’s reaction