Positive changes to Leadership Elections 2019 as nominations open

Nominations for The Leadership Elections 2019 opened on Monday 4th February with hundreds of opportunities for students to lead Imperial at the highest level, and a slew of positive changes aimed at improving the experience for both candidates and voters.

This is the biggest democratic exercise at Imperial in which a President and four Deputy Presidents are elected as Officer Trustees to lead Imperial College Union as paid full-time leaders for a year. Other full-time paid positions are Felix Editor and Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union President, while part time roles include Council Chair, Student Trustees, and eight Liberation & Community Officers. Nominations are also open for the committees of our six Constituent Unions, committees for CSPs, as well as Academic and Wellbeing Reps at the departmental level.

Improvements

This year’s Leadership Elections include improvements based on feedback from previous years. There will be more opportunity for students to get to know the candidates and their positions as there will be a period of campaigning before voting. Campaigning begins 13:00 on Wednesday 6th March while voting starts at noon on Monday 11th March.

This year’s debate with candidates for major positions will be hosted by ICTV and IC Radio with a live audience of students and everyone will get the opportunity to submit questions ahead of the debate on social media.

Another area of improvement is the complaints process, which has been streamlined and made more transparent, with a clearer appeals process introduced for disqualifications and a daily report on resolutions. There will also be more time for complaints handling after the close of voting, with the results scheduled 24 hours after voting closes. Results are expected to be announced on Friday 15th March during a party at Metric.

Stand and lead the change

The impact of these elections on the student experience is massive and all students are encouraged to vote and consider standing for positions in which they think they’ll be able to make a difference.

Nominations close Friday 1st March, while voting runs from noon, Monday 11th March – 14:00 Thursday 14th March 2019. To stand for a role, go to imperialcollegeunion.org/elections