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The new constitution - what does it entail?
- 14 Mar 2008 01:15
- Vote 08
The turn out of voters has decreased from the 2250 last year, and the amount of candidates has decreased from 28 to 14. Speculation has been made as to why this is, and Stuart Rice (Union Manager and Deputy Returning Officer) suggested that it could be due to the weather, this being the last week of term and half the number of candidates.
However, Rhys Dart (Developing and Training Officer for NUS Wales) maintains that the 1135 votes is a very respectable number when compared to the very low turnout of 186 student voters at Wrexham University and 890 student voters at Aberystwyth University. Swansea is therefore still performing in the eyes of the NUS. This is the first dip in the amount of voters since 2003 and it cannot be put down to one specific reason.
One suggestion was to make voting available online. When asked whether this was viable, Rhys said that until a perfect counting system was available, there is no point in employing it. Previous trials of online voting have caused problems with lost votes and incorrect counting.
A large focus for tonight was on the new constitution. All Student Union's now must be registered as charities, the Charities Act 2006 must be enforced by October 2009. Stuart Rice said that the University Council actually asked for the constitution to be implemented sooner rather than later, hence its inclusion in this year's elections.
Stuart explained how the new constitution is a lot 'simpler', and that the old constitution was filled with many 'contradictions'. For instance, the main constitution body states that only a 5% turnout is needed, whereas the union articles suggest 7.5% (a figure quoted in our earlier articles and on Xtreme Radio.)
"The new constitution will actually benefit the university" explained Rhys. He explained how the new charity act states that the Student Union must have independent trustees. Swansea will have three trustees and they will bring guaranteed expertise to the union, and will undoubtedly be a great benefit to the union. The SABBs are legally and financially responsible for the union and so it will be a great help for them to have the guidance from the independent trustees. The trustees will be looking after the interests of the charity i.e. the union.
Best of luck to the new SABBs and wishing every success to the new constitution.
» 14/03/2008 - Result: Treasurer (Vote 08)
» 14/03/2008 - Result: President (Vote 08)
» 14/03/2008 - Result: Education (Vote 08)
» 13/03/2008 - Photo Blog - Old meets New (Vote 08)
» 13/03/2008 - Result: Welfare Officer (Vote 08)
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