With just weeks to go before elections take place across London’s universities, you would hope that thousands of students were scrambling to find out as much as they could about the candidates and decide who would best vocalise student opinion. Unfortunately, as with every other university election in recent years, this is unlikely to be the case.

In 2008 London was politically hyped up like never before, students talked openly about politics and seemed genuinely excited by it all. But it was not the May London Mayoral Elections they were talking about, but the November US Presidential Election. Whilst it was a truly inspiring event that saw the first Black American elected Commander-in-Chief, it was sad to think that it took an election in a country most Londoners could never vote in to get us enthralled with politics again. Turnout in the US presidential election was some 63-percent, far higher than the 45-percent seen in the London Mayoral elections of May. Had the option to vote in the US election been extended to Londoners, there is little doubt that turnout would have been higher than in any UK election of modern times.

It is only if you meticulously examine recent results that you realise student turnout in most London university elections now rarely jumps over the 10-percent marker. This means that most Presidents and General-Secretaries of student unions across London received votes amounting to around 5-percent of their total student population. It is little wonder then that upon e-mailing elected officials at SOAS, UCL & LSE to get recent turnout figures, nobody deigned to e-mail me back. Perhaps it is the fear of admitting they were elected with such a tiny mandate that makes them unable to reply, or perhaps they do not honestly care too much about the issue of student turnout at elections?

“student turnout in most London university elections now rarely jumps over the 10-percent marker”

It is at times of low voter turnout that we end up with politicians and leaders who voice the opinions of the few, and not the many. Only last year two BNP candidates were elected as MEPs and now represent the United Kingdom at the European Union. Embarrassing as it is, had voter turnout been higher, such marginal views could easily have been suppressed by the majority of level-headed people.

With the excitement of the US election in mind, those running for election need to keep focused not on the dull, grey side of politics but on the real, positive side – the side that can actually bring ‘change’ in a small way to London students. Barack Obama’s victory shows how influential the use of Facebook, MySpace and the Internet can be in mobilising supporters. But successful use of these facilities can only occur when the policies of those running for election are in tune with those of the electorate. Obama mixed charisma with the promise of change to invigorate supporters. So triumphant has his mix been that his supporters are now more like screaming, loyal-to-the-core rock n’ roll fans than political voters. Obviously it is nigh on impossible to replicate such enthusiasm in student elections, but there is no harm in trying. Those running for election must build a support base by speaking to and gaining endorsements from a wide variety of student societies and clubs. They must choose their policies not by plucking them out of thin air, but by engaging with students and asking them how they envision their universities changing for the better.

Without charismatic leaders and high voter turnouts, the student voice remains weak. With such a weak voice, it is easy for governments to introduce top-up fees as they did in 2006, and even easier for them to allow for privatisation of that student debt as they did through the “Sale of Student Loan Bill” in 2008. Now students have an even greater fight on their hands, to stop the cap on tuition fees being raised. Students must band together to – as Wes Streeting, NUS President said – “prevent a future in which the most esteemed universities are only accessible to the very rich”. The reasons for a strong and compassionate student voice are hence crystal clear.

“students have an even greater fight on their hands, to stop the cap on tuition fees being raised”

It is time for us, as students, to bring up policies that perhaps we never thought would be possible, interact with each other and unite in our common aims. Students make up some 5-percent of the population – so whether it be the Mayoral elections back in May or the General Election back this year, that figure could completely alter the results and thus the winners. The student voice has been muffled in recent years, but let’s now take our problems and issues to our potential student representatives and force them to lead the way in making changes. With voting in student elections now so easy, let’s keep the political excitement derived from the US elections alive and ensure that our vote is counted. Only then will real change on the student landscape be possible.

KCLSU CANDIDATES WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON
WED 4TH MARCH

VOTING BEGINS 10TH MARCH, SO MAKE SURE YOU VOTE!