The Oxford Union has elected Charlie Vaughan to be its President in Michaelmas 2015. Vaughan was elected uncontested with 751 first preference votes, with 197 voting for RON and 245 voters spoiling their ballots. 1193 members voted in total.
Verity Hubbard was elected Treasurer with 748 votes, 166 RONs, and 79 spoilt ballots. Robert Harris received 729 votes, 196 RONs, and 266 spoilt ballots in his election to Librarian. The position of Secretary was filled by Olivia Merrett, who received 737 votes, 170 RONs, and 286 spoilt ballots.
All three were uncontested elections.
Standing Committee next term is to be made up of Zuleyka Shahin (207 first preference votes), Ssuuna Golooba-Mutebi (185 first preference votes), Nikolay Koshikov (159 first preference votes), Niamh Coote (143 first preference votes), and Noah Lachs (142 first preference votes).
The 11 positions for Secretary’s Committee were filled by Henna Dattani (105 first preference votes), Sorrel Evans (83 first preference votes), Ryan Tang (82 first preference votes), Charlie Campbell (79 first preference votes), Brenda Njiro (71 first preference votes), Jonathan Tan (70 first preference votes), Tiphaine Ramenason (70 first preference votes), Callum Tipple (68 first preference votes), Isaac Kang (57 first preference votes), Isaac Virchis (57 first preference votes), and Ellen Clarke (54 first preference votes).
Current Union President Lisa Wehden said to Cherwell, “I’m incredibly pleased that the new rules were put in place for this election. For the first time in 16 years candidates were able to openly campaign which allowed members to make a more informed decision about who to vote for. I thought this worked really well particularly the introduction of RON. I’d like to congratulate everyone who was elected in this election and I wish them the best of luck for the future.”
One second year Union member told Cherwell, “The rule changes make sense, but it’s still a shame there are so many uncontested elections.”
The elections were notable as the first to take place under new Union rule changes.
