UWE students vote to remove SU president, but the result is voided because not enough people voted

The referendum required a total of at least 1000 votes to reach quorum

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UWE students have voted to remove the currently suspended SU president Zain Choudhry, but the result does not count as not enough people voted.

Zain Choudhry remains President of The Students’ Union at UWE and will resume his duties and responsibilities on Monday 12th February following the completion of his earlier suspension.

Posters were removed and tampered with during the voting period

An email was sent round to students after the result was published however, despite the staggering votes in no confidence, Zain Choudhry will return to his duties as President. This is due to only 658 legible votes, when at least 1000 were required for quorum.

The email sent from the SU announcing the result was sent earlier this afternoon and read as follows:

Referendum Results

In accordance with Clause 36 of the Articles of Association and Bye-Law 4 (10.1) of The Students’ Union at UWE Constitution, a referendum on a vote of no confidence in The Students’ Union President was held following the receipt of a student petition.

A referendum is defined by Clause 13 of the Articles of Association and Bye-Law 4 (10.2) as an all student vote in which at least 1,000 students take part.

Only 658 students have voted in this referendum, therefore this referendum has failed to reach its threshold and as such the motion of no confidence has also failed.

Zain Choudhry remains President of The Students’ Union at UWE and will resume his duties and responsibilities on Monday 12 February following the completion of his earlier suspension.

A breakdown of the valid votes can be found on our website.

If you have any questions about this referendum, you can contact the Deputy Returning Officer at [email protected]

Campaign material was also thrown in bins after being torn down from walls

During the voting period, many posters that had been erected around Frenchay campus, were torn off walls and vandalised. The posters were predominantly campaigning for the vote of no confidence, however the people involved in campaigning to keep Choudhry as President did not grant us a response when asked about their campaigning efforts. It is yet unconfirmed how much funding went into their campaign to keep Choudhry as SU President.

Posters were erected around Frenchay campus

Because of this, the referendum voting period was extended by 12 hours, however students received no emails informing them of this. A statement from the SU regarding this matter read as follows:

"The Students’ Union at UWE has received a number of complaints around campaign materials being removed during the current referendum.

The Deputy Returning Officer team has investigated these complaints and made the decision to extend the voting period of the referendum by 12 hours. This means that voting will now close at 10:00 on Friday 09/02/2018."

More news to follow as we are updated.