Forge 20

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The independent student newspaper of the University of Sheffield // www.forgetoday.com

Issue 20 // Friday March 5 2010

Freeware games fun Fuse pages 8-9

Forstenzer elected President amongst cries of foul play 4President-elect deducted 354 votes for breaking campaign rules 4National voter turnout record smashed as 7,000 head to the polls

NEWS

Dirty tactics

Presidential candidate Ben Woollard reveals election intimidation, threats and abuse News page 4

LIFESTYLE

Fashion marmite

Man Uggs, jegglings & body suits - fashion musts or fashion faux pas? Lifestyle pages 22-23

COMMENT

Pigeonholed

Do we really care if products tested on animals were labelled incorrectly? Comment page 13

The new Union Officers celebrate being elected last night. supervised the elections decided Rosie Taylor & Kirsty McEwen not to disqualify Forstenzer. Current Union President Joshua Forstenzer has been Paul Tobin is convinced that his elected as Sheffield’s next Union mistakes were accidental. President despite complaints He said: “I don’t think anyone from other candidates about his deliberately tried to cheat and campaign tactics. compared to previous years we’ve Forstenzer had 354 votes had very few complaints. deducted from his total after “Joshua made it clear to us three separate Union societies that the mistakes were made sent out messages endorsing him accidently and he responded to on Facebook. our concerns immediately.” He was also penalised for Forstenzer blamed the problems breaking rules such as using on “vague” rules. a megaphone speaker on the He said: “I’m disappointed that Concourse to campaign and failing rules around elections are vague, to submit expenses receipts. difficult to understand and issued The Union sought advice from late. the National Union of Students “No doubt my campaign has (NUS) who told them that made mistakes, but there has been other unions had disqualified a breakdown in communication candidates for breaching similar over central issues. rules. “When we had made mistakes, But the Returning Officers who we tried to rectify them as quickly

as possible. “It’s especially difficult as I am an international student and someone who’s not part of Union politics already.

Have your say Comment on this article at Forgetoday.com Send a letter to letters@forgetoday.com “When I’m President I want to make election rules understandable to everyone from the get-go.” Presidential candidate Dominic Sztyber felt that Forstenzer should have been disqualified. “Not all of us lodged a complaint. I really like Josh, but considering he broke so many rules, I think

Photo: Adam Harley he should be disqualified. But, saying that, I am glad he won,” he said. But some of the Presidentelect’s rivals supported him. Ben Woollard, who campaigned under the name iBen, was runnerup for the position of President with 1,965 votes compared with Forstenzer’s 2,043. He said: “I think it was fair. Josh has been punished and he won despite it. “He’ll be an amazing President.” The third most successful candidate was Charlotte Tobin, who received 1,535 votes. She declined to comment but Ben Cooper, a member of her campaign team, said: “It’s disappointing that someone feels the need to cheat to gain an advantage over their rivals, should these accusations be true.”

FEATURES

Sex trafficking Hear one girl’s harrowing account of life as a sex slave Features pages 16-17


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