Lancaster University Students’ Union announced today that the election for VP Societies and Media would be stopped after investigation found it “compromised.”
In a surprise announcement, Lancaster University Students’ Union posted on their Facebook page this morning that the Deputy Returning Officer has made the decision to stop the current election for VP Societies and Media in the ongoing FTO elections and agreed for it to be run again at a later unconfirmed date.
The two candidates who were campaigning for the role were current VP, Dominic Casoria, and SCAN Editor-in-Chief, Tabi Lambie.
Voting for the role was due to open today at 10 AM alongside the other FTO and LCO roles, however, the Facebook announcement was posted just 4 minutes before voting opened.
The news comes following “receipts of elections complaints” which supposedly identify the potential for running candidates to have been “disadvantaged.” While the post didn’t give any further details, the Deputy Returning Officer was brought in to investigate the complaints and determined that “there is not evidence available to suggest a breach of election rules.”
However, they found the “strong probability that the [election] has been compromised and an unfair advantage gained during this period.”
To ensure “a fair election process”, the Deputy Returning Officer for LUSU has decided to stop the current election for the role of VP Societies and Media. This comes after discussions with the Returning Officers at the National Union of Students.
They have announced that the election will be run again at a later date but are yet to announce when this will be.
Lancaster University students will still be able to vote for all of the other Full-Time Officer and Liberations & Campaign Officer role elections. The voting for these roles is open from today at 10 AM.
SCAN is continuing to investigate this story. Stay tuned for live updates.
