Kent Union’s record breaking election results were announced in a tense night on Friday 14^th March. Four new sabbatical officers were elected, with Megan Wells also re-elected for a second term as Vice-President Welfare. Supporters packed The Venue, cheering and shouting, joined by the candidates after an exhausting week of campaigning. 26.72% of the university took to the polls, over 10% above the national average. In total 4776 voters cast 20,133 votes, beating the previous two years.

First was VP Welfare, won for the second time by teary eyed Megan Wells. She said it was “just amazing, I’m so happy” as she hugged a friend. She thanked her campaign team, “they’ve just been so fantastic”. Megan said running a second time made it more difficult: “It’s yours to lose, you’ve got that job in the first place and you want to keep it.” Megan also said she wants to push the zero tolerance policy.

The role of VP Sports received the most votes and saw Nina Mehmi elected. Nina said the campaign was “absolutely worth it, I’m 100%. I just feel very, very weird right now”. “The best part was being out in the sunshine with my friends, worst part was the four hours sleep a night”. An important part of her manifesto is “making sure sport becomes more inclusive to all”.

Next was VP Education, won by Jack Lay. The first thing Jack is going to tackle is exam feedback, “That’s my main policy … that’s really important”. He said next year Humanities students will no longer have to hand in hard copies of work, something he achieved as Humanities faculty rep. Thanking his campaign team he said his girlfriend “has just been a force of nature”.

Winning by the night’s largest margin, Tom Currie took VP Activities. An astonished Tom said “I keep expecting someone to wake me up and say it’s a dream”. He emphasised the importance of communicating with societies: “I’ve outlined what I want, but now I want to find out what they want from me.”

The final result was Union President in a close finish that saw Tammy Naidoo win, saying “it hasn’t properly kicked in yet”. She beat outgoing VP Sports, Chirs Bull, by a narrow margin. “It’s surreal really; I really didn’t expect to beat him.” Tammy said the worst part of campaigning was “having to annoy people so much, by the end people where like ‘leave me alone’”. Faced with the responsibility of Union President, Tammy said “there’s a lot of bureaucracy you have to face to try and change what you want to change”. Her main focus will be inclusion: “I just want to include everyone in the union.”

All photos by Tina Stavrianou.