Students Suspended from Elections Committee after Presidential Debate

Members of the Students’ Association 2020 Elections Committee have been suspended from their positions after complaints were received regarding their conduct at Tuesday’s presidential debate. 

The students, who have not been named, were suspended in order to “maintain the principle of neutrality”, and will not be allowed to participate in further election business.

It is not clear how many students were suspended from the Elections Committee.

The 2020 Elections Committee released a statement yesterday evening, which was not published on the official St Andrews Students’ Association Elections Facebook page. It was instead published on the Students’ Association website.

In order to read it, students must first go onto the Students’ Association website, and then click on the ‘voice’ subheading. Students must then click on ‘elections’, followed by ‘candidates’, followed by ‘warnings’.

The full statement reads as such:

“Complaints were received about the conduct of specific members of the elections committee during Tuesdays [sic] presidential debate. In order to maintain the principle of neutrality in light of these complaints, the members concerned will not be participating further in elections [sic] business.”

The students were suspended hours before voting was due to open at Midnight on March 5th.

In response to the suspensions, Flora Smith, Director of Wellbeing and Manager of the Elections Committee, said that:

“The Elections Committee is unable to comment further on this situation for reasons of confidentiality. The incident was dealt with immediately and the individuals involved are no longer allowed to participate in any elections committee related activity.”