Elections

Our student elections are held in late February each year; all matriculated students are eligible to stand for election, including postgraduates. There are 63 positions available, including 6 full-time paid sabbatical officers, the SRC and SAF, and school presidents. See the candidates list for more info on each position. If you have any questions, contact SAelect@ or the current position holder.

All matriculated students are eligible to vote, including postgraduates; the voting portal will be shown here once voting opens in early March.

The elections are overseen by the Elections Committee. Find out more about the committee structure and the expected conduct of its members.

Important dates (2021)

All election events will take place online in 2021.

Date	Event	Location
22nd Feb, 9am	Nominations open	Elections portal
24th Feb, 12pm	Athletic Union Presidential candidates’ lunch with Stephen	Microsoft Teams
25th Feb, 12pm	Sabb candidates meet Proctor	Microsoft Teams
26th Feb, 5pm	Nominations close
26th Feb, 5:30pm	Sabb candidates meeting	Association Elections Microsoft Teams - Sabbatical Candidates channel
27th Feb, 12pm	All candidates meeting	Association Elections Microsoft Teams
27th Feb, 1pm	Campaigning starts
28th Feb, 2-3pm	SAF Candidates Meet and Greet	Microsoft Teams
28th Feb, 3-4pm	SRC and Association Candidates Meet and Greet	Microsoft Teams
28th February, 2-4pm	School President and Convener	Microsoft Teams
2nd Mar, 7:30pm	Sabb candidates question time	TBC (Online)
3rd Mar, 5:30pm	Athletic Union President hustings	TBC (Online)
3rd Mar, 7:30pm	Sabb candidates debate	TBC (Online)
4th Mar, 12:01am	Voting opens	Voting portal
5th Mar, 6pm	Voting closes
5th Mar, 8pm	School President results	TBC (Online)
5th Mar, 8:30pm	All other results	TBC (Online)

Which voting system is used?

Our elections use the single transferable vote (STV) system. A good explanation of this system is available here.

STV means that if you only vote for one candidate, your vote will expire after the first round.

To win an election, a candidate needs 50% +1 of the votes.

After each round of results, if no one has more than 50%, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who put this candidate as their first preference will have their second preference counted in the next round.

How are votes for School Presidents counted?

Every student has a credit-weighted vote in the School President elections. A first-year student taking modules in History, IR, and Psychology will have three votes, each counting for 20 in the appropriate election. A third-year student who takes entirely Biology modules will have one vote counting for 60 in the Biology President election. This also applies to taught postgraduates. Research postgraduate votes will count for 120.

Watch this video from the last sabb debate to see what candidates got up to last year during campaign week: