In a surprising result, Luke Hawksbee failed to secure sufficient votes in the by-election for the position of CUSU Coordinator, despite running unopposed.

The voting for the sabbatical position began at 8 am on October 21st and continued until 5 pm on October 22nd. Hawksbee received 275 votes, while the option to re-open nominations (RON) received 286 votes.

The role of CUSU Coordinator is a full-time paid position which entails organizing CUSU’s budget, overseeing support for student societies, and ensuring the smooth daily running of the Executive.

The by-election was held because the previously-elected Coordinator, Chris Lillycrop, resigned in August, only weeks after assuming the position.

Speaking to Varsity, Hawksbee expressed disappointment at the result. “I find it both surprising and unfortunate, given my performance in last year’s election and the dire situation higher education is in, that many students have chosen to risk having no student representative rather than vote for a candidate known to be an experienced and dedicated student activist,” he said.

“However, my performance in both demonstrates that at least a substantial minority of students understand the inadequacy of traditional CUSU politics in dealing with the challenges students and the higher education system face.

“There has even been a noticeable shift to the 'left', for want of a better term, within the current sabb team between their election and now. I take this to be ample demonstration that with greater knowledge and experience, they are coming to many of the same conclusions that activists like myself reached years ago through our own experiences of struggle,” he said.

Previously, Hawksbee stood for the position of CUSU Education Officer, but lost to Maria Helmling, the current Education Officer. Hawksbee is also a Cambridge NUS Delegate & Drafting Officer for 2010 and has served as Education Not for Sale National Democracy Coordinator for 2009-10.

Rahul Mansigani, CUSU President, told Varsity: "The CUSU team have been managing without a Coordinator since early summer, and are pleased to have delivered on all our major projects such as a record-breaking Societies Fair and our range of publications and Freshers' Guides: this has of course involved even longer working hours for the whole team."

He added, "I was surprised by the election results, but am glad that those who voted took the election seriously and not as a rubber-stamping exercise. While the technical period for nominations was relatively short due to the CUSU Council timetable, we did advertise that the position was up for election over several months and interested candidates did approach us during this period."

For many students, however, the result was a reflection of low student turnout. Indeed, with only 563 votes being cast, the turnout for the election was only 2.6 per cent, significantly lower than the 13 per cent turn out for CUSU election in March.

“I think the turnout was low because it’s still the start of the year, and many people are not yet tuned into University student politics,” explained one second-year student.

She added, “To be honest, I didn’t even hear about the election at all, so it’s possible that a lack of publicity for the election contributed to these results.”

However, Hawksbee rejected the idea that low voter turnout was a problem particular to Cambridge. “I don’t think low turnout has been a serious problem in Cambridge over recent years – other students’ unions have been known to have a significantly lower turnout.

“I would of course like to see higher levels of engagement of all forms - this was one of the planks of my campaign - but I can’t fault Cambridge in particular for a problem that plagues almost all students’ unions in the UK."

According to CUSU, nominations for a second by-election will open shortly, with details being advertised in this week’s bulletin.