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Carter: Elections Are Disappointing

These elections will go down in collective memory and in my own mind as perhaps the most disappointing of those I have been a part of.

Despite having a lower budget cap to give candidates less money to waste on an insane number of consumables, the same faces still remain on the Exec Elections website. Or similar faces at least.

Two candidates are re-running for the Executive, the person running for President is a hall chair and polls show (excluding perhaps Rag and Action) all candidates being backed by a hall are on course to win.

It’s the same people, or same types of people throwing their hat into the ring for the Executive and there have been a plethora of comments as to why this is.

Perhaps that The Epinal has published the names of candidates who’re standing early, thus scaring off all interested students early. Students don’t see the point in wasting their precious money, time and energy on a job they may not win.

I’ve ended up eating my own words that the £100 budget cap will encourage more candidates. It hasn’t. Not this time at least and removing it would destroy everything Ali Cole and Union Council have worked to achieve – to allow students who don’t have a large amount of money to spend on a campaign to take a chance.

And yet, I firmly believe that it is not this publications fault.

In fact Loughborough University is categorised and characterised by the fact it is not political. This apolitical void has been filled historically by the strength and organisation of university halls and general disinterest outside them. They’re one of the only institutions at Loughborough University capable of mustering even the slightest democratic interest from students.

An inherent problem exists in that The Students’ Union is not seen as the place to build up your CV and so long as that perspective remains, we will continue to see unopposed Executive positions on our ballot papers. We will continue to see the same faces pass us by each year.

The Students’ Union ultimately remains remote in people’s minds and so long as that endures, these elections and the prospect of running in them will seem just as remote.

Chris Carter

Chris Carter

Chris is a former Comment Editor of The Epinal.
Chris Carter

@lborochris

Chris Carter

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Posted by on February 21, 2013. Filed under Comment,Elections.
  • Mark

    I don’t really get this article, whats wrong if its the same ‘type’ of person that runs each year? It’s probably the same people that have thrown themselves into the Loughborough Experience and got involved the most. There is nothing wrong at all with that – of course their going to be more likely to run.

    Its probably the fact that it’s the same type of person who runs (i.e. the most involved) each year that LSU is one of the best unions in the country.

    There is nothing to stop anyone running, you can’t complain about people not having the balls to run – if they are too sacred to run against a hall chair how can you possibly expect them to be any good on exec.

  • Lewis Wright

    I find involvement begets involvement – the more I do the more I find there is to do.
    Occasionally though, I find myself volunteering for things because I think “If I dont do it, either it wont get done or won’t be done with the enthusiasm it deserves or needs”.

  • Chris Carter

    People are scared of the popularity contest is more to the point I was making… Just because someone “throws themselves into the Loughborough Experience” doesn’t mean they’ll be any good on exec, they just win the ridiculous popularity contest that Loughborough’s democracy seems to provoke.

    PS we’ve been sliding slowly down the best Unions in the country over the last couple of years

  • Mark

    On the same hand, just because they haven’t got involved doesn’t make them a good candidate either, my point was they they are going to be the most knowledgeable so most likely to be the best candidate.

    This whole discussion & article is all completely vague and makes huge unpractical assumptions, such as every hall chair is instantly popular (not all of them are – some are heavily disliked).

    My main point was, that the ‘type of person’ that runs in the exec elections such as hall chairs and (dare i say it) BNOC’s are probably best placed to represent the average student due to their higher than average rapport.

  • Ex-Exec

    Chris,

    The latest National Student Survey (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq73qj3QslDedHhUNks5SUd6MEd5LWJpVEhDN1Rkamc#gid=0) showed students rated Loughborough University as 91%, which I believe is the 2nd highest in the country, behind Sheffield University SU, on 95%, so hardly slipping down

  • Ex-Exec

    meant to say Loughborough Student Union, not University, got 91%. Apologies

  • Dave Rogers

    Chris, do you not think this is politics in General?

    Look at the wider spectrum – All Tories, Liberals & Labour candidates fall into stereotypes.

  • Adam Twigg

    This article just seems like a bit of a bitch and moan really. Elections at any level are a popularity contest between then candidates, and in an arena such as Loughborough, ‘political’ popularity in terms of Union Exec Elections is earned through hard graft throughout the university career. All of the candidates have earned their reputation this way, except, you could argue, Chris McKenna, who is the more unusual kind of candidate Mr Carter seems to want. And he is coming in for all sorts of criticism. I think people need to figure out what they want, before commenting.