Democracy and Services candidate Chris Etheridge has sparked controversy after the creation of a Facebook group entitled ‘Etheridge for Democracy and Services’, a week before campaigning can begin.
YUSU rules state that campaigning may not begin until after a mandatory candidates information meeting on Monday Week 8. Nominations remain open until this Friday.
In a statement to the press, Etheridge’s campaign manager Peter Campbell commented that the group “is currently a private Facebook group, and as such is not in the public domain, therefore cannot be counted as ‘campaigning’.”
Campbell went on to say that YUSU had confirmed the group was acceptable in its current form. It will go public on Monday evening, as will Etheridge’s policies, which are not listed on the group.
YUSU have so far been unavailable to comment.
Claims that the group was ‘unfair’ and broke rules spread across the web in the wake of its creation. One student told Vision that “this seems to be taking advantage of holes in the election rules”.
However these rules state that candidates may use Facebook for campaigns provided all other regulations are followed. Campbell said:
“The group does not expose a “loophole” in the rules, as the YUSU staff in charge of campaign rules told me that the rules were deliberately sparse in order to allow for initiative. I think that the fact that I checked with them prior to group creation bears testament to that.”
Unlike most pre-campaigns groups, students who were not a part of Etheridge’s campaigns team were invited to it. All were friends of Etheridge, Campbell or Miles Sinclair, the Deputy Campaign Manager.
Furthermore, Campbell’s press statement assured students that this was ‘above board’, having been contacted by YUSU in order to ensure this.
“…if YUSU have a problem with any aspect of the campaign, they has [sic] only to call me and I will comply with their requests.”
It remains to be seen how rival candidates Sam Daniels and Dan Walker will react to the news.
The YUSU Elections Handbook, including all election rules, can be viewed at: