Winners of 2019 Leadership Elections announced at Results Party

The 2019 Leadership Elections drew to a close at last night’s Results Party in Metric.

Next year’s Officer Trustees will be Abhijay Sood, Tom Fernandez Debets, Fifi Henry, Shervin Sabeghi and Ashley Brooks - in the positions of Union President, Deputy President (Clubs & Societies), Deputy President (Finance & Services), Deputy President (Welfare) and Deputy President (Education), respectively. The final Sabbatical Officer position, ICSMSU President, will be taken up by Benjamin Russell, whilst Henry Alman will be next year’s Felix Editor.

Last year’s Leadership Elections were heavily criticised and the relatively smooth running of the elections this year show a marked improvement, reflected by the increased overall turnout of 41.23% compared to last year’s 35.65%. This turnout places Imperial College top in the country in terms of university election turnout; at the time of writing. This year, 800 candidates ran for 774 positions in the Leadership Elections, with the highest number on record - 8121 students – placing votes.

Abhijay Sood, who ran on the promise of challenging the university, won the tightly contested Union President race, eventually beating out closest competitor, Mike McGill, after seven rounds and 1827 votes.

The 2019 Leadership Elections weren't without their share of controversy, with Deputy President (Finance & Services) candidate, Krystal Law, being disqualified following multiple complaints. Fifi Henry was ultimately successful in winning the fiercely contested DPFS race.

The race for Deputy President (Welfare) was also hotly contested, with Shervin Sabeghi ultimately coming through with 1088 votes after three rounds.

The races for Deputy President (Clubs & Societies) and Deputy President (Education) were not as competitive, with both positions only requiring one round of voting. Tom Fernandez Debets won the DPCS race with 1452 votes, whilst Ashley Brooks, the only candidate in the DPE race, won with 2085 votes.

The race for Felix Editor was one of the most competitive of the night. Current Science Editor, Henry Alman, eventually proved victorious, beating closest competitor Joanna Wormald, the current Deputy Editor, with 635 votes after five rounds of voting.

Ben Russell succeeded in becoming next year's ICSMSU President, beating competitor, Tom Willis, with 663 votes after one round of voting.

Dan Faehndrich, the current ICSMSU President, and Ansh Bhatnagar will be next year's Student Trustees, whilst Lloyd James will be the Union's Council Chair.

Some positions were left unfilled during this election cycle - including International Officer, for which students voted to re-open nominations – and will be voted for in the Summer Bye-Elections. The full list of election results is available online.