James Appiah III has been elected president of the Cambridge Union for Easter term 2023 in a close fought election that saw several allegations of electoral misconduct.

Appiah, this term’s chair of the Cambridge Tory club (CUCA), beat closest rival Ellie Breeze by sixteen votes after other candidates Sam Carling and Joshan Parmar were eliminated in rounds two and three. The vote went to a fourth round with Appiah eventually winning 201 votes to Breeze’s 185.

Appiah ran on a platform of making the Union more entertaining with boxing matches and comedy nights in the Union cellar, as well as “tackling” a culture of “cliquish”.

The results were announced at 10.20pm in a febrile, half packed Union chamber which had waited several hours past the expected time to find out who had won the presidency. The delay came after an electoral complaint, the last of many charged at Appiah, arrived at 17.59pm, a minute before voting closed. The complaint, about Appiah's use of a third party Instagram account to campaign, was deemed erroneous and the count continued. 

Other victorious candidates included: Alistair Mathieson, elected social events officer, Ed Hilditch as speakers officer, Holly Sheridan as equalities officer and Nick Davies as speakers officer.

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