Section 7 – Elections 

I. Administration 
A. 
Elections Committee shall be responsible for the organisation of all Union elections. 
B. 
Elections Committee shall be elected in accordance with the regulations set out in the 
Constitution. 
C. 
The F&A Officer shall keep all details of elections as outlined below: 
1. 
Information for Candidates Packs to be kept until 24 hours after the result is declared; 
2. 
Nomination contracts - originals to be kept for the duration of the term of office being 
contested; 
3. 
Ballot forms - to be kept for the duration of the term of office being contested; 
4. 
Manifestos - one copy of each candidate's manifesto to be kept indefinitely; 
5. 
Publicity materials - an example of each form of publicity to be kept until 24 hours after 
the result is declared. 
D. 
The General Secretary shall serve as Returning Officer 
II. Types of Election 
A. 
Elections shall be of two classes: 
1. 
General Union Elections, which shall be effected by a secret ballot in which all Union 
members are eligible to vote; 
2. 
Sectional Elections, which shall be effected by a secret ballot in which all Union members 
of the section concerned are eligible to vote. 
B. 
The election of the following shall be by General Union Election: 
1. 
all members of the Executive 
2. 
all Non-Executive officers except: 
a. 
Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans Students Officer who shall be elected by the 
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Society; 
b. 
Mature Students' Officer who shall be elected by Mature Students; 
c. 
Women's Officer who shall be elected by women students, and 
d. 
Arts, Societies and Sports Officers, who shall be elected by the Arts, Societies and 
Sports Boards respectively; 
e. Faculty Reps who shall be elected by their Faculty.
In the event of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Trans Society not functioning, or formally 
signifying to the F&A Officer their inability to elect their Officer, the posts of Lesbian, Gay, 
Bisexual and Trans students’ Officer shall be elected by General Union Election, as in A.
1 
above. 
3. 
delegates and observers for each of the NUS Conferences. 
4. 
members of Elections, Finance, Governance, Services, and Student Affairs Committees. 
C. 
The election of the following shall be by Sectional elections: 
1. 
The members of Council noted in B2 above. 
2. 
Faculty Representatives who shall be elected by students of their faculty as outlined 
below. 
3. 
Hall Representatives who shall be elected from their halls as defined by that hall. 
4. 
Student members of College Committees who shall be elected by the Union Committee 
delegated with the responsibility. 
5. 
The election of the four Senior Treasurers shall take place at Union Council. Senior 
Treasurers shall be elected two at a time at two year intervals. 
6. 
Members of the Postgraduate Association Executive Committee, who shall be elected by 
postgraduate students. 
7. 
Members of the RUMS Executive, who shall be elected by medical students. 
8. 
Members of the SSEES Site Committee, who shall be elected by SSEES Students. 
III. Constituency Allocations 
A. 
It is recognised that the balance of students within faculties of University College London will 
shift from year to year, but it is intended that each student should have roughly the same 
access to a faculty representative. These procedures should be interpreted with that 
objective in mind. Faculties with just Postgraduates students shall have a Postgraduate 
Faculty rep, Faculties with Undergraduates shall also have a Faculty representative and a first 
year Faculty Representative. 
B. 
Each academic year prior to the end of the third term, the Elections Committee shall allocate 
the 36 Faculty Representative posts on Union Council as follows; 
1. 
A statistics report shall be requested from the Registrar's Division by the F&A Officer 
outlining current enrolment by department and the number of first year undergraduate 
students in each faculty. 
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2. 
the approximate number of students each faculty rep should represent will be calculated 
by dividing the total number of students by 36. 
3. 
The Faculty reps (open and postgraduate) should then be assigned. 
4. 
The allocations shall be presented to Union Council for their approval. If the Council does 
not approve the allocation, Elections Committee will be responsible for re-assessing the 
allocation and presenting the revised allocation to a specially called meeting of Union 
Council within two weeks of Council's decision. If the second proposal is not accepted by 
Council, the Executive shall be responsible for the allocation decision. 
IV. Term of Office 
A. 
The term of office for Executive Officers shall be 1 August until 31 July. Sabbatical officers 
may not stand for re-election. The term of office of an Acting Sabbatical Officer elected in 
place of another shall expire on the date when their predecessor's term of office would have 
expired had they not vacated the post. 
B. 
The term of office for Faculty Reps elected in the first term shall be from the time of their 
elections until the last day of the final term. 
C. 
The term for Hall Representatives shall be from the first day of the first term, or time of 
election, until July 31st. 
D. 
The term of office for Senior Treasurers shall be four years. 
E. 
The term of office for all other posts shall be from the first day of the academic year following 
their election until the last day of the final term. Members of Council and other office holders 
elected to vacant posts during the academic year shall take office immediately and serve until 
the last day of the final term. 
V. Nominations 
A. 
No candidate may be proposed or seconded by the holder of the post to which they seek 
election, by a Sabbatical Officer or a member of Elections Committee or Governance 
Committee. 
B. 
Only members of the Union may propose or second a candidate. 
C. 
Candidates in sectional elections may only be nominated by students who are eligible to vote 
in that sectional election. 
D. 
No member of Elections Committee may stand for any post unless they have resigned from 
Elections Committee by the end of the Autumn term in the year they wish to stand. 
E. 
The elections timetable shall be as follows 
1. 
Faculty Reps and NUS Delegates shall be elected at the beginning of the Autumn term; 
2. 
Sabbatical, Executive and the Non-Executive officers not mentioned above shall be 
elected in the second term preceding their term of office. 
3. 
By-elections for positions not filled shall be held at the next set of scheduled elections or 
at the discretion of elections committee. 
F. 
Eligibility to hold any Union post is conditional upon a student being in good academic 
standing in accordance with the following conditions at the time of taking up the post. 
1. 
For Sabbatical Posts: 
a. 
a student in any year, apart from the final year, must be academically eligible to 
proceed to the next year of his/her programme of study immediately following his/her 
term of office. 
b. 
a student in his/her final year must graduate successfully at the end of the session in 
which he/she is elected and, at the time of taking up office, must have been accepted 
for enrolment as an affiliate student in an appropriate College department. 
2. 
For other Union posts: 
a. 
A student will be eligible to take up the post only if he/she has satisfactorily completed 
his/her studies in the year in which he/she was elected and is eligible to enrol for the 
following year to continue his/her programme of study. 
G. 
A candidate for Sabbatical Office who fails to meet the requirements of paragraph G, above, 
is deemed to have withdrawn their candidature. If the defeated candidates remain eligible, 
Elections Committee shall ascertain whether the remaining candidates are willing to enter a 
recount. A recount will take place of those original candidates eligible and willing to 
participate. 
H. 
In the event that the holder of any non-Sabbatical position fails to meet the requirements of 
paragraph F, a by-election shall take place in accordance with the timetable set down by 
Elections Committee. 
I. 
No person may stand for more than one Council post in any one set of Union elections. 
J. 
Non-Sabbatical members of Council and Standing Committee members may stand for re-
election. 
K. 
Nomination forms and contracts shall be readily available to potential candidates. 
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L. 
All of the following should be made available for downloading from the Union website: a copy 
of the Standing Orders for Elections, an Information for Candidates pack, the Nominations 
form and contract, a copy of the Staff-Student Protocol or equivalent policy of Establishment 
Committee and a copy of the Standing Orders relating to the post they are standing for. 
M. 
Each candidate must place their completed nomination forms and signed contracts in the 
ballot box designated by Elections Committee for that purpose before the close of 
nominations. 
N. 
A formal verification of candidate eligibility and Declaration of Nominations will take place 
after the close of nominations, which all candidates or their named representative are 
encouraged to attend. 
O. 
Elections shall be held at a reasonable time after the Declaration of Nominations, to be 
decided by Elections Committee. 
P. 
Should no nominations be received for a particular post or posts by the Close of Nominations, 
Elections Committee may immediately re-open nominations for those posts for up to an 
additional week. 
VI. Publicity 
A. 
Notice of all elections shall be posted on the official notice board and at other Union sites at 
least 7 days before the close of nominations. This notice will specify exactly which posts are 
up for election, and any other information specified by Elections Committee. 
B. 
Hustings: 
1. 
Candidates in General Union Elections shall be given the opportunity to address a 
meeting open to all members of the Union. 
2. 
This meeting shall take place between the Declaration of Nominations and the opening of 
voting. 
3. 
Additional meetings may be held around College and in Halls of Residence at the 
discretion of Elections Committee. 
4. 
The General Secretary shall chair these meetings. In their absence, a member of 
Elections Committee shall take the Chair. 
5. 
Each candidate shall be given an equal amount of time to speak. 
6. 
Questions may be submitted in writing by any member of the floor according to 
procedures set by the Elections Committee. 
C. 
The number of posters and details of other forms of allowed publicity shall be determined by 
Elections Committee. Candidates shall be informed of these rules in the on-line Information 
for Candidates Pack. 
D. 
Manifestos: 
1. 
Candidates must produce a manifesto to be distributed by Elections Committee. Elections 
Committee may exclude any candidate for Sabbatical or Executive positions who does 
not submit a manifesto. 
2. 
It shall be the duty of the candidate to make sure their manifesto does not contravene the 
Standing Orders. The candidate may request that Elections Committee rule on whether 
their manifesto contravenes the Standing Orders prior to the elections. 
3. 
Manifestos shall not bear the names of anyone other than those of the candidate, their 
proposer and their seconders. 
4. 
The cost of producing manifestos shall be borne by the Union. 
E. 
The proof copy of all issues of the student newspapers published between the Declaration of 
Nominations and the declaration of the results must be checked by the Finance and 
Administration Officer and the General Secretary for fairness. 
F. 
It shall be an offence: 
1. 
for any campaigning to be done within the vicinity of the ballot boxes - the limit to be 
defined by Elections Committee and given in the Information for Candidates Pack; 
2. 
for any person to utter a statement that is untrue to the benefit or detriment of any 
candidate; 
3. 
for any person, other than members of Elections Committee, to interfere with any publicity 
related to the elections; 
4. 
for any person to breach section 11, I, B of the Standing Orders which require that 
matters relating to the responsibilities, conditions of employment, performance or conduct 
of individual members of staff shall not be discussed except by the Establishment 
Committee. The Elections Committee shall ensure that no form of publicity contains any 
such statement. 
VII. Campaign Costs 
A. 
A maximum amount which may be spent by candidates on their campaigns shall be set by 
Elections Committee if necessary. This will be included in the Information to Candidates Pack. 
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B. 
When requested, the candidate must supply a full financial account of their campaign to the 
F&A Officer by the time specified by Elections Committee. 
C. 
Any supplies given free of charge must be accounted for by including an approximate 
commercial costing of the materials received. 
D. 
Elections Committee may decide to disqualify any candidate who exceeds the maximum 
amount allowed for a campaign. 
VIII. Voting in Elections 
A. 
General 
1. 
Elections Committee shall decide where to place ballot boxes. Candidates will be 
informed at the Declaration of Nominations. 
2. 
Candidates, or their proposer and seconders, may not supervise any ballot box. 
3. 
Ballot box supervisors must check voters' ID cards and Union membership lists . 
4. 
The Single or Alternative Transferable Voting system will be used for all elections. 
5. 
Any member who is unable to vote on polling day may ask the F&A Officer for permission 
to cast a premature vote. The F&A Officer will provide a sealed ballot box for this 
purpose. 
B. 
Voting in General Union Elections 
1. 
All members of the Union may vote. 
2. 
Re-Open Nominations shall be included as a candidate on all ballot forms. 
C. 
Voting in Sectional Elections 
1. 
Only members of the Section concerned may vote in the respective Constituency 
election. 
2. 
In the case of Faculty representative elections, if there is only one declared candidate for 
the post, the Elections Committee shall declare them elected and no balloting shall take 
place. 
3. 
Re-open Nominations shall be included as a candidate in all other sectional elections. 
IX. The Count 
A. 
Each candidate or their named representative may attend the count but may not interrupt the 
count process. 
B. 
Candidates or their named representatives must be asked if they are satisfied at every stage 
of the count. 
C. 
Complaints about the conduct of the count must be made before the declaration of the result. 
D. 
The count shall take place in front of at least two members of Elections Committee in addition 
to the General Secretary or the F&A Officer. 
X. Discipline 
A. 
Any complaints about the election or any candidate standing in the election must be made 
within 30 minutes of the close of voting. 
B. 
Elections Committee reserves the right to disqualify any candidate, invalidate an election, 
censure any person or refer the matter to a Union disciplinary committee should any of the 
rules relating to elections be broken subject to this action being reported to Union Council as 
outlined in the Constitution. 
C. 
Candidates shall be entitled to make representations to the appropriate body on their behalf. 
XI. By Elections 
A. 
Any vacancy, other than that of a Sabbatical Officer, that arises during the year should be 
reported by the F&A Officer to the next meeting of Elections Committee. A by election will 
then be held with the next scheduled set of elections. Elections Committee shall have the 
discretion to bring forward a by election in cases of urgency. 
B. 
In the event of a vacancy for a Sabbatical position occurring before the start of the academic 
year, a by election should be held within the first four weeks of the new academic year. 
C. 
If a vacancy occurs in a Sabbatical Office after the start of the academic year but prior to the 
Sabbatical Elections for the following year, a by-election shall take place within four weeks to 
elect a non-Sabbatical Acting Officer. 
XII. Resignation 
A. 
Written notification of resignation by either a candidate or an elected member must be given 
to the F&A Officer. 
B. 
Should any elected member wish to reconsider their resignation, written notification must be 
given to the F&A Officer within a week after the original notification. 
C. 
A candidate may not re-consider their resignation. 
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