On March 13 Shah Yaseen Ali bested Abjol Miah, Anuraag Roy and Rajnish Lochab to the NUSU Presidency. His win was distinct from other candidates that night, due to a re-open nominations (RON) campaign running anonymously in opposition. Both Ali and RON gained a comfortable lead ahead of the three remaining candidates, with RON achieving the most first round votes with 793, and Ali falling second at 658. Due to NUSUs ranked voting system, all second-place votes for Ali or RON were thus transferred, allowing Ali to eclipse RON by 15 votes to win the NUSU Presidency.
Following this win, Ali looked to another election with the May 4 United Kingdom local elections, where Ali hoped to win a councillor seat in Heaton, representing the Conservative party. Labour candidate Mehrban Sadiq held the seat for seat for Heaton, with 49% of the vote. Ali took fourth place with 5.5% of the vote.
Ali’s Conservative candidacy has triggered a petition of no confidence in the President-elect, where 100 signatures are required for the motion to be tabled at the May 18 Student Council. The petition was revealed to The Courier, where it is cited by the anonymous creators “by withholding his intention to run for Newcastle City Council during his election campaign, the President-elect has irreparably compromised those aforementioned values.” The petition concerns Ali’s “impartiality” in running as a Conservative councillor and “ability to effectively represent all the students who cast their votes in his favour.”
Newcastle University’s Labour Society have expressed support for the petition telling The Courier from their perspective of local election candidate selection “Shah’s candidacy for the Tories would’ve been confirmed by the time of student elections.” They detailed “our members support the vote of no confidence and find it insulting that Shah would treat NU students as a stepping-stone for his political career.” Chairman of the Newcastle University Conservative Society Zak Mudie signalled his backing for Ali, when telling The Courier “I fully support the President-elect and am proud of him for getting involved with improving Newcastle and for trying to improve the local area.” He added further he is “happy that the due process has been followed and the democratic result is being carried out.”
The Courier was witness to the letter addressed to NUSU written by ‘the no-confidence team’ where they warn if “NUSU deem it appropriate to quash this overwhelming expression of student voice, or if the correct constitutional processes are not followed in any subsequent proceedings, it would overwhelmingly be viewed by the signatories in the enclosed petition as a gross and unacceptable circumvention of the union’s constitutional values.” The letter concerns such evasion of the motion could “likely result in NUSU losing the confidence of a great number of its members.” In the letter the writers confirm the petition has now exceeded over 500 signatories.
The motion, however, is anticipated to be steered at the upcoming Student Council, with Education Officer Mack Marshall telling The Courier: “The motion did not pass through the Steering Committee and therefore will not be tabled at Student’s Union Council.” Marshall established the proposer of the motion has been notified. In regard to the ‘steering out’ of the motion, Marshall stated it does not fall “within the NUSU Constitution to allow a motion of no confidence to be tabled against an Officer-elect who has not yet taken office.” Marshall has also confirmed “as with all motions the Steering Committee Report to Student’s Union Council will outline that the motion was submitted and why it was steered out.”
The anonymous members of the RON campaign were contacted by The Courier, expressing they are in “support of the petition and subsequent motion for a vote of no confidence.” “We believe students deserve the right to exercise their voice and that the Student’s Union should listen to this.” The RON team have also stated they are “disappointed to hear that this has not been allowed by the Steering Committee” and believe “students have a right to debate the motion at the council.” Shah Yaseen Ali was approached by The Courier for a comment, where he responded: “I am pleased that the due process has been followed. I look forward to working towards my manifesto commitments and focusing on the issues that are affecting the students of Newcastle University.”
Students wishing to voice their opinions regarding the petition are free to attend the May 18 Student Council where the motion is expected to be steered out.