President interview: Christopher Ward

LIke the Terminator, he said: “I’ll be back” and Chris Ward is. Lauren Oldland catches up with the postgraduate student as he prepares for his second campaign to become President of the Union.

Why do you want to stand for the position?

To change the Union I guess is the broadest answer. I’ve been around volunteering for several different roles for the past four and a half years and yeah it would be nice to actually get in because it is a full time position.

President interview: Gavin Jones

The race for the rather odd shaped office has come down to two contenders, the first of which is Gavin Jones. Dejla Kadhim spoke to the Television production student about his campaign to be President of UCLan Students’ Union.

Why do you want to stand for the position?

I’m very passionate about the university and I’m prepared to represent the university to the highest ability, meeting the needs of future students and primarily to make a rewarding difference to UCLan.

Sarah Edwards drops out of election

It’s a morning of dropping out. Sarah Edwards has reportedly dropped out of the race to be the new President of UCLan Students’ Union.

In a message to her Facebook group she said: “Hi guys, Thanks for all your support so far. I have decided to withdraw from the elections due to a change in circumstances next year. Please remember to vote in the elections on Monday!”

This leaves Gavin Jones and Chris Ward to fight it out, for Chris Ward it’s the second time he’s been in a direct run-off for the position.

Edwards withdraws from election

Mark Edwards has withdrawn from the race to be president.

Edwards is believed to have cited a build-up of university work and other personal reasons for dropping out.

The news leaves three candidates left in the race to be President: Sarah Edwards, Gavin Jones and Chris Ward. Edwards was running as part of a trio with Adam Slaughter and David Watters - we’ll see if they back another President candidate or stick as a duo. Edwards was expected to command the sports vote, but this could shift to Sarah Edwards who could expect to inherit voters who would have backed Mark Edwards.

Going on facebook group members the current favourite for President is Gavin Jones on 395 group members, Chris Ward is second on 149, while Sarah Edwards carries 89 members. Mark Edwards’ shared group with Slaughter and Watters currently has 112 members. But will facebook support translate into solid votes?

Campaigns officer proves most popular as candidates announced

The candidates for the 2008 UCLan Students’ Union elections have been announced and already it’s shaping up to be a hard fought contest. The most popular position is the newly created campaigns officer with five candidates putting themselves forward. Four candidates are down to stand for media officer and president. Activities and participation did have four but one candidate has already deemed to withdraw after failing to hand in a manifesto to meet the deadline set by the returning officer. Only one candidate put themselves forward for education officer.

Our candidates section has the list of those running, with a separate page for each candidate. Information about each candidate will appear soon.

Most candidates turned up to the candidate briefing where a lot of questions were asked, with plenty about the new e-voting system and how it will work. The battle has already commenced on facebook with campaign groups popping up left, right and centre - let’s just hope that people don’t burnout before they’ve even begun.