Aastha Dahal and her supporters wait for the announcement of the Postgraduate President resultsRosie Bradbury

by Chloe Bayliss, Molly Killeen & Catherine Lally Follow Catherine Lally on Twitter

This article is 5 years old

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Stay tuned with results as they come out this evening!

Missed out on the rest of our elections coverage this week? We’ve got it all here on our live blog.

The results announced so far: 

  • Postgraduate President: Aastha Dahal
  • Undergraduate President: Ben Margolis 
  • University Councillor: Freddie Poser
  • Access, Education and Participation Undergraduate Officer: Esme Cavendish
  • Access, Education and Participation Postgraduate Officer: Siyang Wei 
  • Welfare and Community Officer: Alice Gilderdale
  • Disabled Students' Officer: Kerensa Gaunt
  • BME Officer: Howard Chae
  • Women's Officer: Chloe Newbold

11:13pm 

Varsity's photography was lucky enough to get a shout-out this evening!

9:16pm That's all from us in terms of live updates for tonight, but we've put together a full rundown of this year's results. 

Democracy!

9:10pm Reacting to his win, Margolis told Varsity that he was feeling "ecstatic, but surprised" and overall "just really, really good." 

He was pleased with the positive campaign he'd run and, as for the short-term plan, yet another victor is heading to "the pub, probably." 

9:08pm A hotly contested race, it took four rounds for the winner of the undergraduate president election to be announced.

With 4,247 votes cast in total, the first round saw the elimination of Rusty Smith, who won 112 votes. 

In round two, Amira Nandhla was eliminated after winning 496 votes, and the third round saw the elimination of Matt Alderton, who won a total of 936 votes. 

The final round came down to Henry Wright and Ben Margolis. The former achieved a total of 1523 votes, but was unable to best Margolis who came out victorious with a total of 1629 votes. 

9:03pm The results are in.

Ben Margolis is the next Undergraduate President.

8:59pm A hush descends, the tension is palpable. 

8:54pm And now, with snacks running low and emotions running high, it's the moment we've all been waiting for...

Many thanks to all our fans for following along. 

That's right, it's Undergraduate President time.

8:54pm Dahal thanks those who supported her and congratulates her opponent for the campaign she ran.

When asked about her favourite moment of the campaign, she fondly recalls being awake and strategising, pizza in hand, at 2am this morning. 

8:48pm In the penultimate result of the night, the next Postgraduate Union President has been announced. 

Aastha Dahal is victorious with 1,395 votes out of the 2,744 cast, winning the first round of voting by just 23 votes. 

8:44pm Speaking after her win, Chloe Newbold told Varsity that she was "absolutely shocked that people believed in me. I'm not the typical candidate so it's really nice that people believed in me."

And on the intensity of such a hotly contested election? "It should be this intense for a liberation role", says Newbold. 

8:36pm 2,062 were cast in the race for Women's Officer, one of the most competitive contests of the night, and it took four(!) rounds of voting for any of the five(!) candidates running to surpass the quota needed to win. 

In the first round,with no candidates passing the quota for election, Flannery McIntyre was eliminated. 

In the second round, both RON and Rowan Fox were eliminated and the third saw the elimination of Marissa Clements. 

In round four, however, Chloe Newbold beat Bella Harter 921 votes to 650, and was therefore elected as the next Women's Officer.  

8:27pm In the fourth round of voting, Chloe Newbold was elected as Women's Officer with 921 votes. 

8:24pm We're over half way through with just three more positions to be announced. 

With bunting, balloons and snacks galore, the CUSU lounge feels remarkably like a five-year-old’s birthday party. The only difference is the absence of tears - so far.

The yet to be announced Women's Officer, Undergraduate President, and Postgraduate President have been the most contested positions. 

8:18pm Chae tells Varsity that he's excited to be the first BME Officer and to get to work on his manifesto pledges. 

As for what comes now, "I have a lot of work I have not done so I will do that." 

"Maybe I will have a pint first." 

8:17pm Next up: BME Officer. This is the first year that this has been a sabbatical role. 

Howard Chae, who ran unopposed, wins with 517 votes out of the 733 cast.

8:07pm For the positions of Disabled Students' Officer (DSO), BME Officer and Women's Officer, this year saw the introduction of a tick box, where students must confirm they identify as part of the demographic the candidate represents. 

This could explain the decrease in the number of students voting for the DSO position, with only 746 votes cast this year compared to 2599 votes in 2019. 

8:01pm And the results are in: Kerensa Gaunt, the election's only candidate, was elected as Disabled Students' Officer, with 546 votes. 

7:53pm We're now waiting on the night's fifth result, which will determine the next Disabled Students' Officer.

Despite only being contested by one candidate, this race hasn't been without controversy. 

7:48pm Talking to Varsity, Gilderdale thanks those who have been working on important student issues. 

And to celebrate? "The pub, probably." 

7:47pm Next up: Welfare and Community Officer.

Alice Gilderdale, who previously served as CUSU Ethical Affairs Officer, is the only candidate contesting this position. 

Gilderdale has been elected with 2,450 votes, out of a total 3,182 cast. 

7:37pm Wei tells Varsity that due to a take-home exam and preparation for the upcoming ADC production of King Lear, "I did not do a lot of campaigning for this election." 

They compared it to their experience running for CUSU President in 2018, which they described as "extremely stressful." 

They plan on celebrating by telling their mum that they now have a job. 

The third result of the night is that of the Postgraduate Access, Education and Participation Officer. 

Again, only one candidate, Siyang Wei, ran in this race. They were victorious with 2,150 votes.

RON received 850 votes. 

7:29pm Cavendish tells Varsity that she is "really excited about the prospect of staying here for another year working on issues [she's] really passionate about."

She thanks the people who helped her run her campaign and notes how great is was to see so much engagement in college

7:25pm Next up: Undergraduate Access, Education and Participation Officer.

There was only one candidate in this election, Esme Cavendish, who won with 2,581 votes.

Re-open Nominations (RON) received 755 votes. 

7:23pm Fun fact: Due to difficulty in obtaining the emails of its members, the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) turned out only six voters in this election.

7:18pm Speaking to Varsity, Poser says he is "relieved, tired, glad that the campaign is over" and thanks his campaign team. 

To celebrate, he plans to "get a drink, go to sleep and then get on with some supo work in the morning." 

7:16pm First up: University Councillor. Freddie Poser has been elected over Jess O'Brien.

In the first round of votes, Poser received 1509 votes, and O'Brien 1207. Re-open Nominations (RON) received 543 votes. Neither candidate surpassed the quota. 

In the second round of voting, O'Brien received 1240 votes and Poser received 1563. 

7:13pm 

CUSU confirms the total number was 5,144. This was the highest number of votes ever but reached 20.88% of voters, which is down from 22.2% last year. CUSU says this is because they incorporated around a thousand students from the Institute of Continuing Education and were not able to add all of them to the electoral roll on time, with around six students from the ICE voting.

7:14pm This year saw the highest number of votes ever in a CUSU election with 5,144 votes cast, a turnout of 20.88%.

Clare had the highest number of votes, at 427 (52.5%)

6:56pm 

As we wait for the first set of results to come out, let's take a look at college turnout.

Clare has surged ahead to be the college with the highest proportion of its student body voting at 52.5%, bringing them a college-wide pizza party. 427 students from Clare voted, outdoing even Homerton – the next college on 368 voters (where both Henry Wright and Bella Harter study), although as such a large college it is only seventh in the ranking.

In second place is Eddies, Aastha Dahal's college, with 49.2% of students voting, and in third is Christ's (Esme Cavendish's college).

6:35pm 

Candidates and teams have arrived in the CUSU lounge, and results will be kicking off soon. They will be staggered over the evening, culminating in the announcement of the Undergrad President around 9pm.

6:14pm 

Welcome to Varsity’s CUSU results liveblog! Stay updated as the results roll in with our coverage this evening.

Quick turnout estimate: the CUSU voting poll is indicating that 5,138 students turned out to vote this year. Last year, 5,120 students voted in the elections (at a turnout of 22.2% among the student body, and it was also a record number of votes cast).

An increase of 18 voters may show that turnout this year was relatively level with last year. Henry Wright and Matt Alderton’s campaigns in particular focused on reaching out to students who felt disillusioned with CUSU (and may not have voted before), and so the success of these efforts is yet to be judged.

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