The Returning Officer of OUSU has resigned after “serious irregularities” were revealed to have taken place in the recent NUS referendum.
Alexander Walker, a second year chemist at Wadham, posted his resignation on the board at the union last night.
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In the letter he states, “I have been the returning officer of OUSU since January and I believe that I have contributed by working with the sabbatical officers and by organising the RAG ballot and other council elections.
“However, in light of the recent events concerning the NUS referendum, I have come to the decision that my position is no longer tenable. The grave situation with the NUS referendum happened under my watch. Although we do not currently understand how this happened, I do not believe that I should continue in this position as with my academic pressures as a second year chemist, I am unable to fulfil my duties.
He continues, “I understand that many people have had a great deal invested in this referndum and I feel for them in this turbulent time. I wish the Junior Tribunal the best of luck in finding out how this happened and I am happy to continue to contribute to the investigation.”
The investigation follows a formal complaint put forward by Jack Matthews, leader of the ‘Believe in Oxford’ campaign following irregularities with the voting process. The official result of the referendum was announced at the King Arms pub at 7.30 on Wednesday with a 1780 to 1652 vote to disaffiliate from the NUS for the academic year 2014-2015 announced. However, there were a large number of ‘No’ votes which appeared to have been cast at the same time, from the same location. Cherwell understands that a large number of Unique Voter Codes (UVCs) were used in the last hour of the election process in order to give the ‘No’ vote a wide margin of victory. This has raised major concerns with the validity of the referendum and a Junior Tribunal is meeting today to investigate the issue.
OUSU President and leader of the YES campaign, Tom Rutland, told Cherwell, “A Junior Tribunal is meeting today to consider the complaint issued regarding the voting irregularities in the referendum.”
