Elections Analysis
The most outstanding feature of this year’s sabbatical elections was the 40% increase in turnout over the 1996 results. Almost four hundred extra South Kensington students voted, marginalising the St Mary’s vote, which stayed static at just under three hundred, from one third to one quarter of the total votes cast.
While their influence on the results decreased significantly, the medics ballot papers were instrumental in getting both of the successful Deputy Presidential candidates elected, despite their unpopularity in South Kensington. Mr Clark’s case is the most dramatic since he received the lowest vote of all four candidates south of Hyde Park, not even managing 20% of the poll. He would have been the first to be eliminated were it not for the 287 votes that he received from the Mary’s students.
With this block vote, Rob Clark was able to lead from the first round through all three votes, despite receiving slightly less second and third preference votes than Duncan Tindall. While Mr Clark received a total of 92 transfers from John Savery and New Election, Mr Tindall’s 101 transfers were not enough to trouble the Mary’s vote. The latter achieved the highest percentage vote of any of the candidates from a single ballot box, when almost 80% of the Civil Engineering voters came out in his favour.
The medical influence on the Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) election was even more marked as the winning candidate received the lowest South Ken. vote of all three candidates, but was saved by 285 votes from the northerners. Smita Chaturvedi eventually squeezed home despite losing out 2:1 on the New Election transfers to Sarah Thomas.
While the election of Felix Editor was considerably more consensual, Jeremy Thomson would not have been successful if St Mary’s had voted against him. The sole candidate received over 60% of the South Kensington votes but the 279 medical votes could have scuppered his hopes.
The Presidential race was the only clear cut decision, with a phenomenal 802 votes being cast in South Kensington for New Election. With Sam Baker receiving a derisory 124 first preferences, even the medics could not have saved her from defeat.
Considering the results on a box by box basis, the most notable change was the extra 100 students who voted in Huxley. This group increased from their previous 120 votes to become the largest South Kensington group with over 220 expressing their views. Elsewhere an extra 60 voted in Electrical Engineering, an extra 40 in the Royal School of Mines and another 40 extra in Civil Engineering. With 11 ballot boxes this year, one more than last year, the shared polling station between Blackett and Chemical Engineering netted 70 more votes.
Notably if the elections had been carried out in a manner similar to the US Senate Elections some rather different results would have been produced. Leaving aside Silwood and the NHLI, Sarah Thomas topped the poles in six departments, New Election in three and Smita Chaturvedi in just two. Duncan Tindall did even better, coming first in six areas, New Election did so in two with John Savery and Rob Clark gaining one each. Jeremy Thomson was only beaten in one of the balloting areas, with the JCR coming out in favour of New Election. The Presidential race was as clear cut as ever under this system, with Sam Baker failing to top the poll in any department
