With around 30 hours of voting left in the NUS referendum, over 1,500 students have cast their votes - still several hundred short of the number required to make the referendum valid, but far more than some had feared.
Many in the wider student movement had assumed that a referendum so late in the year would result in an appalling turnout, based on experiences elsewhere - including a recent referendum at Chester. There, barely 300 students voted out of a student population comparable to Imperial's, with 250 voting in favour of staying in the NUS (the union officers there were leading the disaffiliation campaign). Indeed, it was also suggested that the 'Yes to NUS' campaign's best tactic would be to stop people voting, so the target of around 1,800 students was not reached, making the outcome irrelevant. The comparative lack of NUS presence on campus is believed to be part of this tactic, but one that could backfire if quorum is reached.
The turnout figure will be just as eagerly awaited as the final result, with a number of different outcomes possible and a different effect for each:
- Yes vote with or without quorum: Imperial stays in the NUS, and no further referendum is likely unless the reform process continues to be disrupted at the next conference.
- No vote with quorum: Imperial leaves the NUS, in which case a further referendum is unlikely until the organisation has reformed, or 600 freshers are encouraged to sign a petition.
- No vote narrowly missing quorum: Imperial stays in the NUS, but a strong sign is sent to the organisation that Imperial students are willing to withdraw. A further referendum is unlikely until the next attempt at the reform process.
Voting closes at 23:59 on Monday night, so if you want to vote, make sure you do so soon. You can see the panel discussion and other NUS referendum coverage on the NUS referendum mini-site.
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