Last
updated: 10/04/08
VIVA
ESSEX!
The
radical 'Viva Essex' slate at the University of Essex took five out
of five sabbatical positions after the NUS discovered voter fraud had
deprived them of their full victory, last month.
The ‘Vivas’ had won four out of the five positions after
the first count, but the incumbent president Richard Doughty had managed
to hang on to his position, leaving the new team ‘headless’
and slate leader Dominic Kavakeb shocked and devastated.
However, a three-week independent investigation by NUS found fraud in
the online voting system used for the elections, and was able to identify
180 votes that had been cast from only four internet addresses.
After these votes were removed, the presidency was switched from Doughty
to Kavakeb, and an election that had been ‘bittersweet’
for the ‘Vivas’ turned into a landslide.
The slate has since also won four out of the six part-time executive
positions, putting them in solid control of the union.
The ‘Viva Essex’ slate is a revival of the tradition of
‘Red Essex’: the university has historically been one of
the most left-wing in the country, but recent years had been a quiet
period for left-wing politics on the campus.
The ‘Vivas’ say their politics means they are “ideologically
committed to resurrecting the true nature of a union” as a mass
membership movement, organising students to campaign against top-up
fees, privatisation, war, poverty and other issues."
Zak Suffee, who won the vice-president welfare position, told Essex
student newspaper the Rabbit: “This has proven we can have democracy
and we can smash student apathy.
“Another union is possible!” The team hope their victory
will
inspire other unions to build movements based on their creed of “activism
not careerism” and “democracy not bureaucracy”.
by Tom Walker
