UCD students elected a female majority sabbatical team last night after a marathon 15-hour count, with fourth-year Law and Social Justice student Joanna Siewierska being elected SU President. Siewierska was elected on the third count with 1697 votes out of 4067 ballots cast. Her margin of victory was only 41 votes.
The race for President was incredibly tight, with Micheal Geary and Declan Kelly only being separated by 47 votes at the end of the first count.
Brian Treacy and Katie O’Dea who were running uncontested for Education Officer and C&C respectively were elected with 90% and 86% of the vote respectively. Conor Anderson who was elected as Graduate Officer achieved 59% of the vote. His opponent Uthra Lakshmi had withdrawn from the race but was still listed on the ballot. Lakshmi secured 31% of the vote for graduate officer.
Úna Carroll was elected the next SU Welfare officer, having achieved the quota of 1818 votes on the first count. Her opponent George Merrin secured 45% of the Welfare vote or 1579 votes.
Both referenda put to students on the day also passed, with the student levy passing with 61% of the vote and the new Student Union Constitution being approved with 77% of the vote.
It is expected that with the passage of the new Student Union constitution that a by-election will be called to fill the returning role of Ents Officer. This by-election is expected to be held before the end of the term.
Aaron Bowman – Co-Editor
The College Tribune would like to thank the Returning Officer Micheal Foley and all the tellers for their work this election. We would also like to thank the Student Union staff and the staff of the University Observer for their company and assistance throughout the count yesterday.
