Just 550 of KU's 22,782  students voted in this year’s sabbatical officer elections, according to figures released by KUSU this week after ditching traditional polling stations for an online system. 

The turnout, described by the union as “exceedingly disappointing”, shows that only 2.4 per cent of the population of the university decided which of their number would benefit from a wage well above the starting salary for many graduates. 

Mark Horne, KUSU general manager, said: “We have looked at the outcomes of the election in terms of the significant fall in overall turnout and a number of recommendations have been made.” 

An NUS spokesperson said they believed sabbatical officers' salaries to be around £20,000.  Although this varies nationally, this is a figure well above the starting salary for many graduates.

The elections in mid-March saw the return for a second term of President TJ Esubiyi who won by a margin of 105 votes.  443 votes were cast in the VP Activities election taking Rhiannon Hiscocks to a second term with a margin of 101.  Chris Dingle won the VP Education position after two rounds of redistributed votes and new VP Communications Stefan Mattison after one redistribution round. 

Lucy Hayward, a third year Drama student and secretary of the Wine Society, said: “[The change from polling stations to online voting] confused a lot of people.
“There are a lot of people who did not vote because they thought it was too complex.” 

KUSU has defended its decision to move to online voting despite being aware of the big drop in turnout the switch often produces.  The student’s representative body claimed that the online system would encourage more KU students to have their say in who put their views across, especially those away on work placement and at campuses other than Penrhyn Road. 

Mr Horne added: “In a world where students increasingly do not need to be on campus to be at university, this seemed a much fairer system.”

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