Elections will be held next week from March 8th to 10th
By Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco
Courtesy of AUSA Candidates
Candidates for the upcoming AUSA Sabbatical Officers Election have been chosen, AUSA announced Monday evening.
The candidates will run for the five Sabbatical officer positions which make up AUSA’s leadership committee: President, Vice President for Activities (formerly VP for Sports), Vice President for Education, Vice President for Communities, and Vice President for Welfare.
Sabbatical officers serve as the primary representatives of the student body and are tasked with promoting and representing the many interests and issues that are relevant to students.
Three candidates are standing for the position of AUSA President: Samuel David, Nathan Hughes, and Vanessa Mabonso Nzolo.
Hughes, a mature student, described his qualifications for being President, commenting on how he hoped to diversify the perspectives and voices of the University. He wrote in his manifesto, ‘We are all at the precipice of a huge paradigm shift in equality, co-operation and sharing of moral, ethical, and spiritual beliefs. I want every voice to be heard so that we can improve and enrich the University of Aberdeen.’
Likewise, Mabonso Nzolo wrote that she wanted to ‘maximise transparency’ and seek to give students a voice in how the university is run. She commented on her qualifications for the job, writing, ‘I have years of experience in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work from both student activist and staff member roles, from which I have gained a thorough understanding of how our university works, the current discussions that are had on an institutional level, and how we as students can increase our input on topics important to our learning and wellbeing.’
Four candidates are standing for Vice President of Education: Akua Serwaa Agyeman, an Energy Politics and Law postgraduate student; Samuel Akoto, a Master’s student in Finance and Investment Management; Shreeya Bidkar; and Banitya Mohan Tripura, the current International Student’s Forum Convener.
Camilio Torres Barragán is standing for a second term as Vice President of Communities against Gabriel Brame, a 4th year Psychology student.
There are three candidates standing for Vice President of Welfare; Emmanuel Teku Heduvor; Pearl Mensah, a Master’s student in Data Science; and Sai Shraddha S. Viswanathan, a postgraduate student in Psychology.
Finally, Adam Lambert is standing unopposed for a second term on the Sabbatical Team. He is running as Vice President of Activities, a new position replacing the Vice President of Sport, which Lambert currently holds.
Voting for the Sabbatical election will open online next Tuesday, 8 March and will run until Thursday, 10 March at 5 pm.
It remains to be seen if this year’s election will reverse the low numbers of student turnout over recent election cycles. In 2021, only 6.7% percent of the student body voted for AUSA president, with just 5.5% percent the previous year.*
(*Percentage calculated using 2018/19 figures of 14,775 students.)
