Unfortunately I lost my bid to be the President of the students' union at MMU. The winner was from the hard left slate (Student Switch On) who won most of the positions.
Usually the rationale for a group of candidates winning can be pinpointed to a set of related reasons, mostly involving running a good campaign. Here at MMU the formula is really quite simple; run a slate of good, non-party political, candidates (one or two political people is OK, but the majority should be non-aligned, or at least not
backed by political groups), run a sensible campaign, and don't piss off the voters. Cheshire is also crucial as historically more students vote from those campuses then do in Manchester.
I should know, I've run/campaigned/otherwise been involved in elections at MMU for over 6 years. I've won eight and now lost four - a hit rate of 67%! The three previous elections that I lost were over three years ago.
My chances this time around were hampered from the start. I wanted to run a united centrist campaign (or a progressive slate, as some call it) with backing from the major political groups but not too many political candidates. I don't even count myself as a political candidate as I was running independently from my party.
Unfortunately there were some who wanted to run the show and head up a slate themselves. This political group were intent on going for the top job without a second thought for what might happen. The result was a split in the centrist vote which created major obstacles for the two slates which then formed.
History has a knack of repeating itself, and so it proved a major player in the students' union was pushed aside (i.e. yours truly) to pave the way for a Presidential candidate who wasn't a current sabbatical and not even in their final year. The left also got themselves organised and ran a decent campaign. Almost exactly the same thing happened three years ago, and although the result was much closer (a tie in the final round) the outcome was the same with the hard left candidate winning the election.
Although I understand the circumstances were really quite different back then, the fact still remains that the same political group managed to split the centrist vote and then went on to lose. I even pointed out this situation to the current band, but they were unconcerned with the possibility of it happening again.
Nevertheless, that was only one reason for the outcome of this year's elections. As I mentioned above, you can't underestimate the Cheshire vote. You won't win an election in Cheshire, but you certainly can lose it, and the fact of this election was that the campaign in Cheshire was won by the left. It helped that the left stood a candidate for a Cheshire position for the first time in many years, but the campaigning from the political slate had much to be desired.
It basically consisted of the candidates sitting behind a desk with some laptops for the whole week, whilst being surrounded by their cardboard boxes. Forget the hideous intimidation for anyone who was passing by, and just think of how many students the candidates actively talked to (not many is the answer). It is true that they won VP Cheshire, but the left weren't running a candidate for that position.
Running a full scale campaign from a week before polls opened was also a huge mistake. All it did was piss off students because they couldn't go and vote there and then, and just wanted to avoid any contact with the candidates by the time the election came around. What they should have done (and what I should have done) was simply talk to students discretely around the campus. Just ask them what they think about a union related subject, chat to them for a few minutes and then mention you're running for election next week and for them to tell their friends. Being
in your face for a whole week was counter-productive in my opinion.
Of course there was the exception that proves the rule. There was an excellent candidate for VP Education who won in spite of the slate, not because of them. It just goes to show that good candidates can win elections against the odds.
I'm not blaming people, I'm blaming the situation we found ourselves in. We need to remember that it's a simple formula for winning at MMU; we should follow it in future.
JR
I know it's the worst kept secret in Westminster, but the general election now looks certain to be on 6 May. The most compelling evidence I've seen today is the Conservatives' election countdown widget being changed from counting down to 7am on 3 June (the absolutely last day a general election could be called for under normal circumstances), to the same time on 6 May.
