ELECTION PREDICTIONS: First Impressions

The names are out, the list of candidates for the SUSU Sabbatical Elections was officially published last night after rumours from us and the Portswood Press. As always, there were some familiar faces, some not so familiar and a few last minute curveballs. I’ll list the candidates, whether we spotted them in our original rumours article and my educated guess at first glimpse on who will triumph in each position.

President:

• Sam Ling
• Simon Boyce

Only two candidates, something many will be disappointed about. We got Sam but Simon Boyce was, by his own admission, a spontaneous candidate. In this election, it has to be said Sam has a massive advantage of having a year in post to enact his manifesto and plan for the future, whereas Simon’s was thrown together in an hour (apparently) Notwithstanding a concerted effort for a Re-Open Nominations (RON) vote, Sam has clinched it for me.

VP Academic:

• Sasha Watson
• Mairead McGuirk
• Sophie Kamperis
• Rachel Stockey
• Oliver Bills

60%, 2:1 for The Tab here. My SUSU involvement is mainly on the academic side (and of course irritating the Wessex Scene!) and I haven’t heard of Mr Bills or Miss McGuirk. Nevertheless, prior experience isn’t everything, Sasha won convincingly last time around without any official SUSU Academic experience. As with all re-runners, the immediate smart money is on them. But Rachel heads up the representation for the enormous Faculty of Humanities, which is invaluable experience for this role. My prediction: Sasha wins it, with Rachel a not-too-distant second.

VP Comms

• Chloe Richardson
• David Gilani

A full house for us this time, this position will be hotly contested. Dave Gilani has a wealth of SUSU media experience, but Chloe seems to know EVERYONE and it’s numbers that win elections. In this case I can’t call it, we’ll have to wait and until we see manifestos and campaign ideas. Inconclusive.

VP Sports

• Dean Jones
• Sam Huish
• Laura Gottlieb
• Thomas Norton
• Jocelyn Makin
• Sion Roberts

4 out of 6, bordering on a first! This is the most hotly contested role this year, which seems odd. With such a wide range to choose from, second and third votes are going to be hugely important here. Dean is the only Student Leader here, he’s the Sport and Health Officer. It’s likely he’ll campaign again as the Dean Giant and as he’s run two elections with that slogan, his name is out there. If he can conquer his public speaking problem, Dean has got it in the bag.

VP Student Engagement

• Natalie Ralph
• Shane Murphy
• Robert Leane
• Lisa Falquero

We got three of them, with Lisa Falquero coming as a bolt from the blue. Shane will be very tough to beat. His “Smurph” campaign was highly visible and highly successful last year. He really knows his stuff and it’s likely he’ll win again. But until we see manifestos from the other candidates, it’s a mystery.

VP Welfare

• Chloe Green
• Frank Sondors
• Simon Eyles
• Nick Johnson

Another 100% for us here. The infamous Chloe Green is very well known around campus, and this nomination has been a long time coming. We initially reported Simon Eyles as running for Student Engagement, but perhaps campaigning against his mentor at Glen Eyre JCR and close friend Shane Murphy was too much for him? Frank Sondors is student enterprise officer but has been on Erasmus for 6 months so may be a little out of the loop. Nick Johnson is PhilSoc president and may have some good ideas. The result I think is most likely? A victory for Chloe.