It’s UCDSU Election season and those Instagram follower request notifications from hopeful candidates are about to start pouring in, but how do you vote and who will be running?
When are the SU Elections?
UCD Students’ Union has revealed the schedule for the upcoming Executive Elections, with voting to take place between the 2nd and 4th of April.
Nominations for candidates seeking to run in the UCDSU Executive Elections opened on Pancake Tuesday, 13th of February, and will run until Friday and 8th of March at 6 pm. Candidates seeking election to either sabbatical or college officer positions will need to receive 150 signatures from students in their constituencies to be successfully nominated.
Voting will open on Tuesday the 2nd of April at 10 am, with students being able to vote until Thursday the 4th of April at 9 pm. Results will be announced the next day on Friday the 5th of April at 1 pm – likely to be held in the UCD Cinema.
Who is running?
The full set of successfully nominated candidates will be posted to the students’ union website on Monday the 11th of March, with their manifestos being posted on social media and the site. There are 6 sabbatical positions in the union; the President, the Welfare, Campaigns, Education, Graduate and Entertainment Officer roles. You can expect a number of currently seated sabbatical officers to run for different positions within the union – keep an eye on someone who may try to graduate from Smurfit to CEO… Any student can run for a sabbatical position in the Union, except for Graduate Officer for which you need to be a graduate or final-year student.
What if I don’t like any of the candidates?
The format of the UCDSU Elections allows students to vote to Reopen Nominations should they be unhappy with the candidates on offer. This last happened in 2022 when four of the five sabbatical positions in which a candidate ran were RON’ed. This took place after a Reopen Nominations campaign was run by an Instagram meme page named ‘UCDConfessions’.
When can we hear from the candidates?
The main ways you can hear from those running for election is either; the interviews with the student newspapers or at hustings (a bit like a press conference for candidates where they answer questions from the papers and students). Hustings will take place on Thursday the 28th of March from 6 pm.
Interviews will be held by the two student newspapers, The College Tribune and The University Observer to challenge the candidates’ manifestos and qualifications for their chosen roles. You can read our candidate interviews online before voting starts or in print on Tuesday the 2nd of April.
Keep up with all the news around the SU Election on The College Tribune website and social media!
Hugh Dooley – Co-Editor
