The Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) revealed the winners of their annual elections on 8 March at 6pm in Hanger 5 of Potterrow.
Campaigns started on 29 February, as EUSA set out to elect over 40 students for a variety of positions.
EUSA elections occur annually in March where the new EUSA team is elected into office by all students enrolled in the University.
The President, Vice Presidents, School Representatives, Liberation Officers, Section Representatives, and Campaign Representatives were all revealed at the announcement party.
The full list of results can be found here.
EUSA President was announced last of all the positions by incumbent EUSA President Sharan Atwal, with four candidates standing for the role and a total of 2,773 votes cast in the election.
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Dora Herndon won the position, with Freddie Kelly-Grieves coming narrowly in second place.
Reflecting on her victory, Herndon gave a “big shout out” to everyone who voted for her and stated that she was excited to make change.
Vice President Activities and Services was the most contested Sabbatical Officer position, with a total of six candidates running.
John Rappa received the most votes, after basing his campaign on ensuring student activism in regards to Palestine and Ukraine.
Reflecting his campaign points in his victory speech, Rappa said:
“Happy International Women’s Day, free Palestine, thank you very much”.
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Ruth Elliot beat out the other four candidates in the election to become the next Vice President of Community.
Elliot, who formerly served as President of the Edinburgh Greens Society, thanked other candidates who campaigned with her.
In what was the most narrow margin of victory for a Sabbatical Officer position, Dylan Walch became the next Vice President of Education by less than 30 votes over Jasmine Thorn.
Walch served as the Undergraduate School Representative for the Business School, citing preceding Vice President of Education Carl Harper as a major inspiration for his run and hoped to continue the work they set out.
Lauren Byrne, Two-term Vice President Welfare, welcomed Indigo Williams as her successor.
Williams’ victory was the first new Sabbatical Officer to be announced. She described the victory party as “bustling and welcoming”.
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Several students were re-elected to their EUSA Positions. This included Ash Scholz, who campaigned for LGBTQ+ Liberation Officer and ran unopposed for a second term.
Fending off four other candidates, Aarnesh Kapoor was elected to a second term as International Students Representative after seeing an 80% increase in voter turnout.
The School of Biological Sciences saw an 80% increase in voter turnout and the School of Divinity beat the total votes for the 2023 elections in the first day of campaigning.
With a total of 599 votes, Syjil Ramjuthan was elected as Women’s Officer.
While the 2024 elections did see an increase in voter turnout from the previous elections, with 4,595 students voting, it was still shy of the 10% voter turnout that President Sharan had set out to achieve.
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The newly elected Sabbatical Officer team spoke to The Student and all discussed how strengthening communication from EUSA was a top priority.
John Rappa, Vice President Activities and Services-elect, highlighted the importance of providing a greater focus on community to help ease issues students may face due to the inflationary economy and housing crisis.
Dora Herndon, President-elect, said she believes “the University needs to take greater responsibility for the wellbeing of students” and hoped increased communication would prompt greater student involvement in EUSA.
The new EUSA team will take office in June.
Images via Edinburgh University Student Association