Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) presidential candidate Laura Beston today received a minor strike from the Electoral Commission, three weeks before the elections are set to begin.
In an email statement to The University Times, Beston said that “there was just a minor misunderstanding. Following this we’re taking the EC’s advice into account and taking necessary precautions moving forward to ensure it doesn’t happen again”.
The Chair of the union’s Electoral Commission (EC) Stephen Sheil explained in an email statement to The University Times that Beston “will not be able to launch their Facebook campaign page until two hours after the other candidates”.
Candidates for this year’s election were announced on Friday evening, with six women and four men running. Beston is one of two presidential candidates, running against the union’s Access Officer Daire Hennessy.
Candidates are forbidden from any campaign activity until the launch of the elections on February 18th.
The elections will this year begin with the traditional Dining Hall hustings on Monday afternoon, with a poster run and an online campaign launch taking place afterwards. Canvassing in buildings around campus will begin the following day.
The rules for candidates and their campaigns are set out in schedule three of TCDSU’s constitution. Where a candidate breaches one of those rules the Electoral Commission will decide whether to issue a strike. Under these rules three minor rule breaches or two major rule breaks will result in the candidate being struck from the ballot.
