Student Direct: Mancunion is now free to publish material on candidates standing in Union elections, thanks to a Union council vote last week.
The council voted to amend long-standing election regulations that prevent the newspaper from referring to candidates by name or printing articles written by an election candidate.
“This decision has been a long time in the making,” said Jennie Agg, Editor of the newspaper. “While it doesn’t give Student Direct: Mancunion full rights to publish about the elections, it will at least enable us to tell students the bare facts about what’s going on.”
UMSU Communications Officer Tom Fairhurst, who tabled the motion, said, “Students will be able to turn to their newspaper to know about the student elections. This change will increase participation, increase knowledge of the candidates and can only encourage democracy.”
The Union council voted in favour of the motion titled ‘Election Regulations and Fair Reporting’, which was seconded by Agg. The motion was previously tabled on December 1 2009, but was narrowly defeated.
Voting rules on overturning the Union constitution required that at least 20 of the 29 council members voted in favour of amendment. After the longest debate of the evening, 22 council members voted for, while five voted against the motion and two chose to abstain.
The new rules will allow candidates to write for and be referred to in the paper everywhere except for the opinion and politics sections. There is also a caveat that precludes ‘editorialised’ coverage of candidates.
Hisham Omara, studying for a PhD in Electrical Engineering and member of council, voted against the motion. He said the motion’s claim that the printing of candidates’ names during the election period would not affect the results needed substantiating. Omara said, “I think you have to back up the claim with scientific research. If they have no effect on elections, why have them at all?”
Agg, however, continued: “Clearly, this was an amazingly positive decision for the Union. I mean, can you imagine trying to report on an election without being allowed to print the candidates’ names? It’s hard to believe that such a rule was kept in place for so long. The phrase ‘cutting off your nose to spite your face’ springs to mind.”
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