It was near impossible to arrive on campus without seeing scores of candidates lining up from Cadigal Green to the JFR Building. Even the average Honi Soit reporter experienced the rush of a couple campaigners appealing to them for a vote. With a noticeably stronger voter turnout, it seems campus life and student politics may indeed stand a chance at returning to their pre-covid glory.
Honi’s exit poll, receiving over 200 responses, shows a strong start for the left in their quest for a majority on the council, but a much tighter Presidential race. 867 ballots were cast today overall, an increase of about 300 votes from day 1 last year.
Presidential candidate Rand Khatib (Grassroots), with 43.2% of the vote has a large lead on first preferences with Angus Fisher (NLS) and Thomas Thorpe (Liberal) trailing behind at 32.2% and 24.7% respectively. If Thorpe voters follow their how to vote cards on these numbers, Fisher may overtake Khatib and overturn five years of Grassroots presidencies.
Many likely Liberal voters refused to take the Honi exit poll, and therefore there is a real chance Thorpe’s vote is underestimated, posing a further danger to the left.
Photography: Zeina Khochaiche
The council race is more secure for the left. The combination of Grassroots, Free Palestine, Left Action, and Student Intifada gives the council 51.9% the first preference vote, a leading advantage over the Labor aligned factions Impact, Standup and Artistry who have a combined 17.7%.
The exit poll shows that NLS, while still a strong contender for the Presidency, is not managing to push their message of increased accessibility to students. The Grassroots and Left Action brand centred more strongly around activism and opposition to major parties seems to identify with students. Moreover, despite Impact for SRC’s strong social media presence, Grassroots and Left Action appear to have many more people on the ground campaigning.
The right, who still sit far behind Grassroots and Left Action, have in fact outpolled Labor-aligned factions. Save, Colleges, and Reform combined polled 18.2% of the first preference vote: a disappointing result for Labor, who have not polled behind the Liberals in a council election for years.
The NUS exit poll tells a similar story. Grassroots (27.5%), Left Action (19.7%), Student Intifada (6%), and Free Palestine (8.3%) are on a combined 61.5% of the first preference vote. Labor is narrowly ahead of the Liberals with Impact (16.1%), Standup (6.9%), and Artistry (2.3%) adding up to 25.3% compared to the lone Liberal ticket Save’s 19.7%.
Photography: Zeina Khochaiche
Behind the scenes: Backroom deals and hearsay
The first day of voting began with a preference deal scandal between leftist candidates. While Grassroots, Free Palestine, and Left Action all put Fisher as a second preference for President, Impact flyers do not make the same provision for Khatib.
Jasmine Donnelly (NLS) claimed that Impact attempted to pursue a preference deal with Grassroots, setting up three different meetings. Donnelly claimed that Grassroots took this opportunity to berate Impact and pressure them into dropping out. By the time Grassroots reached out again about the preference situation yesterday, said Donnelly, the flyers had already been printed. Grace Street (Grassroots) however, tells a different story “They told us to go fuck ourselves”, she said of Impact.
Photography: Zeina Khochaiche
From what Honi has gathered — interviewing multiple people from various factions — it seems that interpersonal issues and comments about specific candidates have derailed the deals, as opposed to any political disagreement.
Left Action and Grassroots both expressed their confidence to Honi across the day. Jordan Anderson (Grassroots), stated that “the student union should remain unconstrained by both major parties… either party in the Presidency would be an existential threat”, going on to say this made “campaigning more inspiring”.
The main attack on Fisher and Impact heard at the polls was Fisher’s Labor membership, something he has defended across the campaign. One Grassroots candidate repeatedly pointed at Fisher as he talked to students, stating “this guy’s part of the labor party, he’s part of the labor party.” Donnelly alleged there was physical aggression from the opposition and stated that there was a “red and green fan club that keeps yelling at us.”
Photography: Zeina Khochaiche
Simon Upitis (Left Action) pushed back against this characterisation saying that the left’s “ground campaign is paying off” and that NLS were “always looking for an excuse for their lacklustre campaigning.”
Keeping their distance from these ever-lasting inter-factional disputes, PENTA, representing International Students, maintained a significant presence at the campaign frontlines. Taking a much less politically didactic approach to campaigning, Clare told Honi that PENTA is “the true team that works for international students” going on to say of other candidates, “I don’t want to say bad things about them, just be yourself”. A true diplomat!
Voting will continue for two more days with the JFR building again open as a polling booth alongside new booths at Fisher Library, Manning, and the Conservatorium of Music.
