RON has reared his ugly head once again in Oxford JCR
elections. Last week, the ubiquitous but eternally silent
candidate stormed to victory in the Presidential elections at St
Hugh’s. Dominic Curran resigned as JCR president two week ago as he
struggled to cope with the twin demands of student politics and
Physics finals. A new election was subsequently called, in which
Joe Taylor, who had challenged Curran in the original contest,
was the only candidate. Taylor, a second-year medic, is also
Co-Chair of the Oxford University Labour Club. 25% of students turned out for the election. RON won 118 votes
against Taylor’s 96. “I understand that members of the
JCR committee campaigned for RON,” Taylor said, “but I
can’t say what effect that actually had on the voting.”
He noted that some students had concerns about his close links to
the Labour party and the implications for the impartiality of the
JCR. Chris Farmer, the External Affairs Officer on the JCR said,
“There was definitely not a RON campaign led by members of
the JCR committee. We were all very surprised by the
outcome.” Following RON’s shock resignation, the
position of president is vacant once more. Both Taylor and Farmer
expressed a desire that the JCR find a new president and
“settle down and get on with it.”ARCHIVE: 4th week TT 2004
RON Labours to Win
