Voting opens today for the Leadership Elections, which have seen a record number of students come forward for the roles of President and Deputy President (Welfare). No one put themselves forward for the Deputy President (Finance and Services) role.

The current DPFS, Chris Kaye, commented on Twitter that this was because you “can’t improve on perfection”. He was Deputy President of Welfare last year. Students can only take two sabbatical years.

Our cover this week features the wannabes who turned up to Meet the Candidates who were going for the big hitter positions, including President, FELIX Editor, and DPs of Welfare, Clubs & Societies, and Education.

Some candidates have already been warned over campaign rule infractions

Although campaigning can be notoriously stressful, one ex-sabb told FELIX they “had a great time because I just wandered round chatting with my friends, and persuaded their friends to vote for me”.

For others, it’s not so easy. An anonymous candidate told FELIX that they had only had three hours of sleep on the night of Meet the Candidates, after attempting to nab some extra votes at the post Varsity ACC.

Some candidates have already been warned over campaign rule infractions: including posters being put on top of each other’s, and the removal of rivals’ posters. Campaign posters with candidate’s faces in toilets have been noted to be particularly weird. “I’ll read policy while I’m peeing, but I don’t want to be watched” one student told FELIX.

Our election pullout on page 14 includes all the manifestos, and you can watch Meet the Candidates by going to Imperial College Union’s Youtube channel.