External Convener calls EUSA's election changes 'undemocratic'

The external affairs convener at the Edinburgh University Students' Union (EUSA) has raised concerns over new amendments to student election guidlines made by its elected student officials.

The changes enacted by the EUSA Executive Committee—which includes the four sabbatical Officers—allows non-matriculated persons to help candidates campaign, meaning non-students can aid a nominee.

External Affairs Convener Katherine McMahon expressed her concerns to The Journal: “The manner in which these rules have been amended without consulting the SRC is unacceptable. While it is constitutionally permissible for the Association Executive to make these decisions on their own, it is undemocratic.

“I am worried about the fact that students with support from elsewhere will be given an unfair advantage.

"It makes entering into EUSA even harder than it already is for ordinary students without a vast support network, particularly for those who have not been involved before."

A main concern arising from this decision is the fact that students who are affiliated with a political party will have a major advantage over an ordinary candidate who decides to run on his or her own merit.

Vice President for Academic Affairs, Evan Beswick is sticking by the joint decision and told The Journal: “It clears up a lot of confusion. When I was campaigning last year I was unsure if my friends outside the University were allowed to glue posters on to cardboard for me. The old rule didn’t reflect reality.

“The claim that hordes of people are going to come up and give a particular candidate an unfair advantage is simply not true. All the student elections across the country are held at more or less the same time so it just wouldn’t be practical.”

President of EUSA, Thomas Graham also agrees that eradicating the rule is a change for the better. He told The Journal: “It was a stupid rule.

“The VPAA for 2007/2008, Anna, mentioned in her acceptance speech that she’d like to thank her sister and her boyfriend for coming up from home to help her campaign. If she’d admitted to them helping before she’d won the election she would have been forced to withdraw from the race. This proves it was not very well publicised anyway and was a hard rule to stay true to.”

In addition to introducing non-matriculated people to the EUSA elections, they are now allowing any candidate to spend up to £50 of their own money on their campaign whereas previously using more extra money than your opponents was prohibited.

Furthermore, the four sabbatical officers can now for the first time run for a second term in office if they decide they would like to carry on.

The changes were never officially announced and were only noticed by other EUSA members when the nominations for the first year and by-elections opened and the new rules were published alongside the old ones.

Ms McMahon added: "We will be bringing up the issue at the first full council meeting on Tuesday [29 September] and we will be fighting for our voice to be heard.”