NSA receives complaint over errors in voting sytem

Napier Students' Associations' election has been thrown into turmoil after students were able to view up-to-the-minute voting results on the election page.

Students reported being able to see the running progress of the election results, matriculation numbers and corresponding votes cast.

Protests have been held outside NSA's offices.

It comes after Presidential candidate Nathan Sparling withdrew from the election race this morning blaming 'corruption' in the NSA election committee.

A complaint was made to the university about those results available online, and the link was taken down immediately.

The election committee received a separate complaint.

A staff member at NSA has told The Journal that nobody will be available to comment on election issues until Monday. 

The Journal has seen documents supporting the claim that the privacy of voters was violated.

NUS Scotland President, Liam Burns was contacted for a statement, but said he could not comment on individual cases.

Nathan Sparling had been taking part in a bitter election battle with current president Kasia Bylinska, who is seeking re-election.

Mr Sparling said: "I withdrew from the election because I no longer want to be part of an election run by a corrupt committee, and wanted the chance to speak publicly about the corruption, where they had previously tried to stop me whilst being a candidate.

"It is unfortunate that it has had to resort to these measures".

Mr Sparling has now asked that votes previously cast for him are transferred to the Re-open Nominations option. The move follows NSA's decision to remove copies of The Journal from campus after a front page article reported a no-confidence motion being brought against Ms Bylinska.

Students have been protesting in and around the three main campuses, Merchiston, Craighouse and Craiglockhart since Monday. More protests are planned to take place today at both the university principal's office on the Craighouse campus and at the Scottish Parliament buidling.

Representatives from the, six-strong, protest have met with Jenny Rees, vice-principle of Edinburgh Napier University, who has voiced personal support for their right to protest but was unwilling to comment.