At 8:19 pm, former Education Officer Eoghan Gilroy announced the results of the race for Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU/AMLCT) Welfare and Equality Officer. Having received 2114 votes, making up 55.7 per cent of total valid votes cast, Lorenzo Cheasty won the race on the first count. Rossa Bolger received 1534 votes, representing 40.4 per cent of valid votes cast in the race. Cheasty therefore received 580 votes more than Bolger did, with 150 votes cast for Re-Open Nominations (RON).
This result reflects the University Times’ recent election poll. The poll had predicted 56.5 per cent of votes for Cheasty, 37.6 per cent of votes for Bolger, and 5.9 per cent of votes for RON.
In a passionate acceptance speech, Cheasty said that “there are serious things that need to change in trinity and have needed to change for a long long time.” He promised to “make it [his] life’s work in the next year” to address these issues “because I’m sick of it”. After emphasising the hard work his campaign team had put in, Cheasty expressed appreciation for his competitor in the race, Rossa Bolger, saying “I love you Rossa”.
Lorenzo Cheasty had focused his campaign on establishing a social supermarket on campus, lobbying to expand the Trinity Health Service, as well as housing rights for students.
In a statement to University Times, Cheasty, overcome with emotion, stated: “I’ll just say, I have nothing to say.. […] I’ll try. Yeah, I feel really overwhelmed. Yeah, honestly nothing to say. Maybe later on.”
Additional reporting by Manasvini Naren, Weronika Brzechffa, and John Crofton
