Dear fellow students and other interested parties,
Numerous parties have approached me, as the present electoral officer for the upcoming SRC elections, to release the results of the previous invalid election that did not attain quorum. Quorum was missed by 173 votes, according to the records referred to me by the previous election officer – Mr Garth Elzerman, incumbent SRC VPI - and therefore the previous election is invalid and its findings have been nullified as having no constitutional effect. It a legal sense it is as if no election occurred and everything must start a new, beginning with a call for nominations which has already been made – see previous election postings on Studentzone.
However, I am making an additional call for submissions on the question of releasing the results of the past invalid election results from the general student body, and/or any party having a particular and sufficient interest in the matter, to be sent to myself, srcvpexternal@ru.ac.za, and the impartial officer, Adv Leslie Roberts SC, l.roberts@ru.ac.za, so that proper consideration may be taken on this issue. Please submit any representation on this specific issue by the 7th of September, 2010, at noon, and please also copy Mr Mark Addison BA LLB – SRC Liaison – for the purposes of recording keeping, m.addison@ru.ac.za. I will communicate the final outcome of these representations by the 8th of September, 2010, on Studentzone.
The present position is that the previous election results will not be published because the previous election was invalid, by its failure to reach the necessary constitutional quorum, and also because the new elections must be completely free and fair to all the candidates running, with the past invalid election holding no influence over the new, quorum seeking, elections whatsoever. If you are unhappy with this present position then please feel welcome to utilise the opportunity provided to present your submissions on this issue. Thank you and good luck again to all candidates running for the new Rhodes University SRC.
Regards,
George IB Kahn
SRC Vice President External
Extraordinary Electoral Officer (2010 – 2nd round)