MSU October ‘25 Election Results Rundown - New President and Senators, and Stagnant Ballots

At 9 p.m. on October 14th, the MSU announced the results of its bye-election held throughout the day. The positions open to election were President, and the Executive role of Equality Officer. However, a myriad of further Executive and Senate roles have also been filled due to a lack of contest.

Charli Middleton was elected as President, attaining 595 votes out of a total ballot of 687. Charli will now executively head and represent the MSU for the remainder of the academic year. The option to Re-Open Nominations (R.O.N.) for the position received 92 votes.

Gracious Momoh was elected as Equality Officer, attaining 428 votes of the total ballot of 717, and being sworn in on the first count. Gracious will be working with VP for Welfare and Equality, Ty Layberry-Ling, in equality-based campaigns and in addressing social inequities. Cal De Nicolas received 289 votes, amounting to a 60/40 split of the ballot between candidates.

Also elected to the Executive was Jess Ní Mhaonaigh as Oifigeach na Gaeilge (Irish Language Officer). As Jess was uncontested in this role, she will be working to promote Irish language and culture via the MSU for the remainder of the academic year.

Several Senators were also duly nominated as they ran unopposed. They are as follows:

Barry Liu for Accommodation Senator.

Seán Kerrigan for Campus Life Senator.

Rían Flanagan Carty for Club Senator.

Megan Carpenter for Community Senator.

Cormac Regan for Environmental Senator.

Vanessa Dobrzeniak for First Year Senator.

Martha Ryan for Gender Equality Senator.

Virgil Morris for International Student Senator.

Gareth White for Mature Student Senator.

Michael Comer for Part-Time Course Senator.

Rachel Neary Whearty for St Patrick’s College Senator.

Ellie George and Neil McCarthy for Taught Postgraduate Senators (two seats were available for this position).

The “Notice of Elections” documents were released on September 19th via the MSU’s website, 3 days before the start of university lectures and leaving 25 days until the election. Although March elections are general as opposed to the October bye-elections - which largely focus on filling vacant positions – the haste with which the “Notice of Elections” was released may have further hampered voting figures and candidate nominations.

The short notice may have also influenced the overarching lack of contest highlighted by this summary. For instance, although the total ballot of votes for President of 687 is up by 3 votes from last year's bye-election, it is also down roughly 60% from the total of 1,702 votes for President in March’s general election. A larger pool of nominations may have drummed up more significant investment in such a crucial role.

Contact information for the Officers and Senators listed above will soon be published on the MSU’s website here. We at Silver Hand Journal wish the newly elected representatives the best in the year ahead!