Campaigning for this year’s Union Elections began in earnest on Monday, with candidates for the available positions given the opportunity to show students across Imperial their credentials.

Wednesday saw the second-ever ‘Meet the Candidates’ live televised hustings take place, broadcast by Imperial’s student television network STOIC from the West Basement in Beit Quad. The 80 minute broadcast saw candidates, running for the sabbatical positions, faculty union presidential positions and four student trustee positions, take to the screen to deliver their manifesto points and respond to questions sent in by email or over Twitter. Whereas last year’s broadcast was not made available following the event, this year’s is now available to watch from the Union’s election website. In addition, the live stream found no significant delays and met its projected start time of 6pm, in stark comparison to last year’s hour delay.

The format marks a notable difference in the hosting of hustings, following previous years of holding the event in the Union Building.

Regarding available roles, one position that is notably absent of a running candidate is ‘Graduate Students’ Association President’, who represents Imperial’s postgraduate student body.

Voting opens on Monday 12 March at one minute past midnight.