NUS Conference - elections

The last post on conference I promise!

Elections were held on the second and third days for the full and part time officers to serve on the National Executive Committee for 09/10.
The full time officers were elected on the wednesday, and a tremendous amount of hard work went in, but the results were fairly predictable, and were as follows:
President - Wes Streeting (incumbent)
VP Welfare - Ben Whittaker (current NEC member + Derby University)
VP Higher Education - Aaron Porter (incumbent)
VP Further Education - Shane Chowen
VP Union Development - Richard 'Bubble' Budden (incumbent)
VP Society and Citizenship - Susan Nash (current NEC)

The part time officers (Block of fifteen, with 5 places for FE students) were a little less predictable, but not unexpected all the same:
John Cox (Exeter University)
Jak Codd (Leeds University)
Usman Ali (University of Salford)
Alice Bouquet (University of the West of England)
Liz Williams (University of Liverpool)
James Haywood (Goldsmiths)
Tobin Webb (Bristol University)
Ed Marsh (University of Hull + current NEC)
Christina Yan Zhang (Loughborough University)
Yemi Makinde (current NEC)

(I'm afraid I don't know the results of the FE places)

Well done to all candidates, and I'm sure you'll be great!

I've got a few observations about elections.
1. The number of candidates, considering it is a national union with 7 million people eligible to stand, is not that great. There were 21 places available - and 36 candidates. Thats only a few more than we got standing in our elections for fewer places. So really we didn't do that badly.
2. If you aren't in a faction, then you have very little chance of getting election. Factions operate by block voting to ensure that they get representation on the NEC. Very clever, but not necessarily representative of what students want and what is best for them. Also, if you are an ordinary student, who hasn't been a sabbatical and aren't part of a faction then you have a very minimal chance of getting elected - which isn't very inclusive really.