The vice-presidential stakes always seem a little lower, and thus attract less publicity, but the races are seldom less exciting. For the role of Vice President Academic Affairs, long time Students' Representative Council member Guy Bromley has announced that he has his running shoes on and is heading for 6 March.

He will not be alone. Stewart Martin, a veteran of the anti-NUS campaign and three-term Geo-Sciences School Representative, will be going against him. His campaign will focus on core issues, such as reforming the role and duties of Directors of Studies and improving the Class Representative system, which he feels will “have a potentially huge impact on a wide spread of students.”

In addition, Andrew Weir, of the Socialist Society, will be running for the role of VPAA on a platform of free education and reintroducing student grants. Whilst admirable, this has caused controversy amongst the student politics community, as many of his pledges are more the responsibility of President, whilst Mr Weir seems perhaps to be ignoring the invaluable work on the academic side of things.

The race to succeed the controversial Tom French as Vice President Services is hotting up as well, with long term staff member and student Rosy Burgess taking on former Freshers' Week Coordinator George Thomas in an exciting play off. Thomas will doubtless be drawing on his youth and energy to sell himself to the voters, whilst Rosy Burgess will likely take a different tack, reminding students of her long service to the unions and insider knowledge.

The race for Vice President Societies and Activities is not immune from this desperate scramble, and may yet be the busiest, with both Naomi Hunter and Phil McGuiness having declared their candidacies.

Ms Hunter has pledged to campaign heavily for welfare issues, but has promised not to pledge anything undeliverable. “What's important is that we promise what's deliverable, not polices from fantasy land. For example, I'm going to find out why there are long waiting lists for student counselling, and then I'm going to do something about it”.

Mr McGuiness will be approching the election from an alternative perspective. He believes that "EUSA needs to work harder on issues such as housing and employment, and that the union should introduce its own landlord accreditation service which will allow those looking for accommodation for the first time a place to start.”

However, they may yet have company, as there have been a large number of names mentioned, including Postgraduate Convenor Gerard Cummins, and Joe Pike, who has launched a website entitled 'Accountability Transparency'. There are also rumours of a 'representative' from the Scottish Nationalist society standing.