Election Night Round-Up: Sabbatical Positions

The results of the recent YUSU elections were announced late on Saturday night with Tim Ngwena becoming the first ever YUSU President to win a second term in office.

Speaking to Vision, Ngwena said that he was “really, really thankful” to the students who had voted him in and that “the strength of this year’s campaigns made [his] victory a sweeter win.”

Despite having faced criticism in the past, for what some consider an approach that isn’t strong enough with the University administration, Ngwena insisted that he would be continuing to negotiate with the top bosses rather than getting confrontational.

“There’s a lot that can be achieved around a table” he said, continuing “I think there’s trust and belief in me and my methods which made people vote.”

The biggest shock of the night came during the announcement for Welfare officer with Laura Bo the “Welfare Bear” beating favourite Peter Warner-Medley to the position.

Bo, speaking on URY, assured the student population that, despite the fact she isn’t a very confident public speaker, she was still well suited to the role. “What I enjoy most” she said, “is speaking to people one on one… and just hearing about their problems and trying to sort them out.”

Meanwhile, in an official statement he released through Facebook, Warner-Medley claimed that he now plans to fit as much into his final term at York as he can and that he still considers his two weeks spent campaigning a success despite the fact that he didn’t get his “dream job”.

Elsewhere, Academic Affairs Officer, the first Sabbatical position of the night to be announced, went to current YUSU Welfare Officer Ben Humphrys who claimed that he was looking forward to having as much fun next year as he has had working in YUSU this year.

Fellow Sabb and current AA Officer Charlie Leyland offered a fantastic endorsement of Humphrys saying “I’m so excited, Ben’s going to be amazing.” She continued, “He’s helped me a lot and he’s going to be absolutely amazing. I’m really happy.”

Another of the night’s most convincing wins came in the Student Activities Officer category with Nick Scarlett comfortably taking the position.

Following the announcement, he told Vision that he was “so nervous before the results were announced that [he] didn’t even want to be in the room.”

Scarlett revealed that he did not think that the recent media attention that his campaign had attracted had had much of an impact on the results and that, although he was sticking to his policies, he conceded that “they may have been worded in a way which was open to criticism”.

In the race for Democracy and Services Officer Dan Walker came out on top, beating both Sam Daniels and Chris Etheridge, confirming in the process that previous involvement in YUSU is not necessarily an open door to Sabb success.

Speaking afterwards, Walker told Vision that he was sure that his experience as a college chair had been invaluable saying “Goodricke won it for me” as well as thanking the college personally in his acceptance speech.

Finally, the York Sport President position went to ex-Langwith chair Sam Asfahani who comfortably beat Men’s Hockey captain Rob Newton despite dedicated campaigning from Newton. Talking to Vision, Asfahani defended his main policy of getting a 3G pitch saying: “The 3G pitch is definitely an achievable goal. It won’t be done by this October, but I hope to at least lay the groundwork this year.” He added, “I wouldn’t run on something I don’t think I can achieve.”

For a full list of all the winners and a blow by blow account of the evening check out the York Vision’s Election Results Night Live Blog.

All Photos by Danny Gilks