Low voter turnout affected the Students’ Union elections that took place before mid term. The election saw current Welfare Officer Mícheál Gallagher elected President of the SU for the 2013/14 term along with Cian Dowling as Welfare Officer and Adam Carroll elected to the role of Education Officer.
Mícheál Gallagher received a vote of 1, medicine 646, cialis sale while his opponent in the race Aidan Kelly received 26% of the vote with a total poll of 636 votes. Overall there were 2, buy 544 votes cast in the presidential race.
Cian Dowling was elected Welfare officer for the coming academic year. In a close battle for the position, including a recount, Dowling had a vote of 1,234 with his opponent Ciara Johnson receiving 1,206 votes.
In the unopposed Education race Adam Carroll received a final vote of 2,029.
With the latest figures from the HEA showing that 23,499 students in full and part time education in UCD this gives a voter turnout of close to 11% for each of the sabbatical elections.
This contrasts with the 2011/12 elections in which 5,077 were cast in presidential race that saw Pat de Brún elected President. This was a year in which every sabbatical election was contested, unlike this year’s elections in which there was only two contested elections, that of the Welfare race and the Presidential race, though Kelly openly ran as a joke candidate.
Many have blamed the low turnout on the fact that the USI referendum was held just a week before the sabbatical elections, arguing that it took focus away from the elections. Others have put the low turnout down to the turbulent times the Union has faced in the past year in relation to its finances.
Meanwhile, there still remains one sabbatical position that is unfilled, that of Postgraduate Officer.
-Ronan Coveney
