This year’s University of Sydney Union (USU) Student Board Directors were announced tonight. There were nine candidates contesting five positions. Georgia Zhang (Switchroots), Shirley (Zixuan) Zhang (Independent), James Dwyer (Unity), Ethan Floyd (Switchroots) and Phan Vu (Independent) were all provisionally elected.
This year’s vote quota was 729 votes, up from last year’s 476 votes. There were also over 4,000 votes cast this year, which is an increase of 1,000 votes from last year.
Both Zhang (Switchroots) and Zhang (Independent) were elected in the first round, with an equal count of 763 votes. Both Dwyer (Unity) and Floyd (Switchroots) were elected on the seventh count. Vu (Independent) was elected on the eighth count.
Angus Fisher (NLS), Daniel Park (Independent), Naomi Viegas (Independent) and Simon Homsany (Independent) were not provisionally elected.
This means that three out of four candidates in this year’s ‘left bloc’ were provisionally elected. Their vote counts were all aligned into a single preference deal, negotiated prior to the election.
This is a strong result for Switchroots who back up their victory in the SRC election last year with two new Board members. The election of Vu and Zhang (Independent) is a testament to the strong international student voting bloc, which both candidates targeted in their policies.
Despite extensive social media advertising and a promising policy platform, Fisher failed to get elected, a surprising result within student politics circles who were quietly confident about his victory.
Veigas and Homsany were both students who has only recently started studying at the university and therefore likely struggled to break through in a crowded field. Park, while more connected to the USU also struggled to find a clear voting bloc.
Dwyer, Zhang (Grassroots), Floyd, and Vu all have extensive experience either within student government directly or in clubs and societies which make them well positioned to take on the role. The election of Floyd and Zhang (Grassroots) is also an endorsement of a more overtly political student union.
Zhang (Independent) got the lowest score in the Honi quiz and despite a clear passion for international students, had a less coherent policy platform.
Honi Soit will cover the candidates as their portfolios emerge and policies are tested.
They will be joining Bryson Constable (Liberal), Julia Lim (Independent), Grace Wallman (Switchroots), Ben Hines (Independent), Grace Porter (Unity) and Sargun Saluja (NLS) on board.