Last night's Union Council meeting promised to be a straightforward affair, with announcements that all but one Ordinary Member seat had been filled following the second round of elections, followed by Officer Reports, no controversial motions, and finally elections for ordinary members of the ICU Executive Commitee.
The By-Elections had seen a turnout almost comparable to the first round (this time just under 1000), with a repeat of the 25p club donations and heavy publicity campaign, although this includes those who took the new option of an "active abstention" whereby they qualified for the 25p payments without actually stating their preferred candidates.
However, even within the half-hour wait for the meeting to become quorate, problems became apparent when Sebastian Pearce attempted to sign in as a Council member. As previously reported on "Live!", Pearce, along with Thomas Tibbits, was announced at the previous Council meeting as having been elected, only for an electronic count the following day to show that RON had finished ahead of them by a fraction of a transferred vote. Tibbits was also present at the meeting, and whilst he had been aware of the recount through coincidental circumstances, he spoke vociferously for Pearce's cause.
The minutes of the previous meeting claimed that the count announced at that time had been called "provisional," but some of those present disputed this and so the audio recording of the meeting must now be checked. Furthermore, returning officer, Mustafa Arif, is to check email correspondance to all candidates to see whether they were informed of the recount.
If it is found that Pearce was not informed, although this does not negate the fact that he was not elected, it may cast doubt over the following by-election since he may have stood again, had he known that he was not elected during the first round.
Whilst the meeting was asked to provisionally accept the results on condition that Pearce's complaint (should he or Tibbits make a formal complaint, which last night seemed more than likely) would subsequently be investigated, it was agreed that the Executive Elections, in which only Council members can stand and vote, should be postponed until Council's membership could be clarified.
Arif initially asked for 24 hours to clarify the situation, but it was eventually decided that it would be unwise to reconvene Council at such short notice given the barely quorate turnout that night; it is therefore expected that a preliminary report will be circulated to Council by the start of next week, outlining the exact situation, which is hopefully to be resolved before the final Council meetnig of the term so that after 5 months, the other 40% of the Union's Executive Committee may finally be elected.
Other notable items discussed by the provisional Council included the Union Strategic Review currently underway delays in submitting last year's accounts, leading to a demand for a Constitutional Interpretation as to which Officers may be held responsible as Trustees of the Union; Insurance Cover for student activities; and the Executive's decision to lobby Welsh Ministers during an investigation of Higher Education Funding Options, but not to participate in the NUS Demonstration tomorrow.
The Chairman found the meeting to be inquorate, and therefore closed it, at around 9.30.
The By-election also saw Helen Dawson elected as CGCU Honorary Secretary, winning outright at the initial count with 219 votes to Jason Clarke's 82 and New Election's 20.
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