TCDSU elections broken down by race
30
LIFE
Running the pandemic away
02
pullout
TRINITY NEWS
Ireland’s Oldest Student Newspaper
ESTABLISHED 1953
Vol. 67, Issue. 7
Jane Ohlmeyer favoured by students as candidate for Trinity’s next provost Shannon Connolly News Editor
I Like and share
The contenders for TCDSU President - Leah Keogh, Ben Cummins, and Luke MacQuillan - have fought strong campaigns as three of the twelve candidates in the union’s first ever online-only sabbatical officer elections.
Poll: Keogh headed for landslide victory in President race Jack Kennedy Assistant Editor
A
POLL CONDUCTED BY TRINITY NEWS INDICATES that Leah Keogh is set to win a decisive victory in the election for President of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU). The poll, which used a representative sample of 1,005 Trinity students, was carried out between Tuesday March 2 and Saturday March 6. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.0%. If poll results from the other races are borne out in the election, TCDSU is on track to have a sixwoman sabbatical officer team for
the 2021/22 academic year. This would be a first since the University Times Editor was established as an elected office. President In the race for President, incumbent Welfare and Equality Officer Leah Keogh received 69.6% of the first preferences, significantly more than the halfplus-one needed to win on the first count. Ben Cummins came second with 24.6% of the votes, with Luke MacQuillan receiving 4.4% and re-open nominations (RON) on 1.4%. Fewer than a quarter of respondents said they remained undecided on the President contest, too few to overcome Keogh’s lead. Nonetheless, campaigns in all races
will work hard to sway decided and undecided voters in the final days of the election period, so the candidates’ ultimate performance may still differ from their polling. Education In the Education contest, Bev Genockey leads with 55.6% of the first preferences. Dan O’Reilly received 38.3%, and RON 6.1%. However, almost half of those polled said that they remained undecided in this category so while Genockey’s lead is significant and she is favoured to win, the race is far from decided. Welfare and Equality In the Welfare and Equality election, Sierra Mueller-Owens leads with 55.8% of the first preferences. Dylan Krug polled at
38.9% and RON at 5.3%. Again, many of those surveyed had yet to make up their minds, with more than 54% describing themselves as undecided. Much like in the Education race, Mueller-Owens has a strong lead but the contest remains very competitive. Communications and Marketing Unopposed Communications and Marketing candidate Aoife Cronin received 91.5% of the first preference votes, with RON polling at just 8.5%. While almost half of voters said they remained undecided, Cronin’s very comfortable lead suggests she has little to worry about when votes are counted on Thursday evening. Continued on page 12>>
N A POLL CONDUCTED BY TRINITY NEWS LAST WEEK, STUDENTS HAVE INDICATED THAT THEIR PREFERENCE for the upcoming provost election will lie with Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, favoured by 62.7% of those who expressed a preference. Professor Linda Doyle followed second in the poll with 21.8%, with Professor Linda Hogan receiving 15.6% of the votes. However, the student preference vote may very well change as the provost election campaign period continues, with nearly half of students polled indicating that they are undecided in the upcoming election. Students are not eligible to vote in the provost election appointment, as the electorate is made up of around 850 academics and staff. Student representatives, such as TCDSU and the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), have a vote within this electorate, and intend to use it based on students’ preferences, with six and four votes for each union respectively. Trinity College Dublin’s Students’ Union (TCDSU) has previously mandated to vote in accordance with student’s preference, which will be upheld by holding a vote of the student body to see which candidate they would prefer. With 48.1% of students undecided, the student representative votes could vote for any candidate. 17.9% of students polled said Continued on page 12>>