On Tuesday a member of the Imperial College Christian Union’s (CU) committee sent an email to all members on their mailing list explaining that in their upcoming society elections only candidates chosen by the current committee would be allowed to run for positions. In the email the committee member explained to members how the vote for next year’s committee would take place as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote to approve a chosen set of candidates for the committee as a whole. This contravenes the democratic way in which Union elections at all levels are supposed to take place. The email explained the process behind the new committee’s selection, stating: “The outgoing committee prayerfully considered everyone we knew held to the aims and objectives of the Christian Union and, using the wisdom of many committees before settling on a team who we felt would be able to set aside time to serve the Christian Union as a whole… And now, you are being asked to consider them prayerfully, raise any concerns you may have, and ultimately vote to confirm them or not as you feel.” The email also explained to members why they could not put themselves up for nomination but instead suggesting, “There are many other, in many senses more important, ways to serve - aside from having more time to share the wonderful news of the gospel, we all need to pull together to put on events…”

Felix contacted the CU and asked them for comment about their election process, and after some discussion it was discovered that the election process was ratified as part of their constitution by their Management Group (the Social Clubs Committee) last year and as such they believed that the process was legitimate. After further debate and consultation with the Union, the CU released the following statement: “We hadn’t realised that the election process for the ICCU committee was in breach of the revamped Union Bye-Laws. We take responsibility for this and apologise to our members and others affected. For many years, ICCU had a constitution which allowed the committee (decided by the outgoing committee) to be ratified as a whole, and this had been approved by the SCC committee. We are very grateful to Yas Edwards (DPCS) and others from the Union who have agreed to work with us as we change our constitution to be in line with the revamped Union Bye-Laws. Elections will be delayed until a new constitution is approved. We would like to thank Felix for bringing this to our attention, and thank the Union for working with us as we go forward.” A spokesperson from the Union also said, “Club, Society & Project Elections are governed by either the Union’s Major or Minor Election Regulations depending on circumstances. For an election taking place at an AGM the Minor Elections Regulations must be followed. Complaints and concerns about the conduct of elections will always be investigated. Any breaking of these rules is likely to result in sanctions and the group may be asked to rerun their elections… We’ve met with the Christian Union and gone through the issues with the way their elections currently run. They are currently engaging with us to ensure that their elections this year and in future are run in line with Union rules and procedures. “