Mayank Banerjee has been elected President-elect of the Oxford Union with a majority of 273.
In the only other opposed election for senior postions, Lisa Wehden was elected Sectretary, against Rupert Cunningham, winning by 474 votes.
As the positions of Librarian and Treasurer both went unopposed, Mehrunissa Sajjad was elected Librarian-elect and Roberto Weeden-Sanz was returned as Treasurer-elect.
The results were announced at just after six this morning. With over 1,300 members voting, it was the highest turnout in recent electoral history.
The results follow a controversial election in which Returning Officer Joshua Atkinson was forced to issue a clarification of the rules regarding electoral conduct, after manifestos of multiple canidates had their photos repeatedly vandalised, with pen marks seen on the candidates’ faces. The photos were replaced multiple times, only to be spoiled again. The identities of the perpetrators are presently unknown.
Electoral malpractice appeared to continue when, at 8pm on Friday evening, an email containing Crawford Jamieson’s presidential manifesto was sent out to the St Anne’s college mailing list, which includes fellows and staff. The email was also reportedly received by students at Christ Church, St John’s, Pembroke, Oriel, and New colleges.
The email reached over a thousand people, however the author of the message is as of yet unknown. The email, which had the subject line, “Vote Crawford Jamieson for Union President”, contained a copy of Jamieson’s manifesto as well as a picture of him. Polls for the election officially closed at 20.30, thus the email was sent whilst the election was still in full swing. There is no suggestion that the email came from Jamieson himself.
Banerjee will take up the position of President next Michaelmas.
