Orinally published on February 24th, 2009

CAMPAIGNING FOR the 2009-2010 EUSA Presidency is in full swing, with a fifth candidate entering the race.

Benedict Robbins, an unknown in EUSA circles, declared his candidacy at the last minute.

A Geo-physics student, Robbins has said he has a religious inspiration to lead the students of Edinburgh University, and says he will ‘bring a new flavour’ to student politics.

How successful this strategy will be in a race followed chiefly by ‘insiders’ remains to be seen.

Robbins, who has almost never attended any EUSA committees or meetings, has thrown up the question of experience - the candidates have all had some, but whose is most relevant?

The Student asked current Student’s Association External Convener Thomas Graham how important the varying levels of political experience that the candidates have will be on election day: “It’s really easy to promise things in elections, but it’s another thing actually doing things once you’re elected.

“Experience is about getting the job done and I’m extremely proud of my record over the past two years. For example - it wasn’t easy getting the main library opening hours extended until midnight, it took a lot of hard work, but I know that it puts me in the best position to deliver a 24-hour library.

“To be honest, I’m not sure that (my experience) will make a massive difference to me in the election, but I know that it will make a massive difference to my ability to do the job if I am elected.”
He went on to say, “It’s not good enough to just sit on loads of committees, doing nothing.”

This is perhaps a veiled criticism of his opponent, Oliver Mundell, who cites his positions on the Finance Committee, Committee of Management and the EUSA CO Board of Directors among his achievements.

But the Mundell campaign highlights the breadth of involvement he has had campaigning on issues - he “ensured 24 hour access to condoms at Pollock halls,” “campaigned Against ID Cards” and “lead the student campaign to save Rainy Hall.”

James Rodger - who has faced criticism that he holds less political experience than his opponents - gave a strongly worded statement to the Student: “If I claimed every petition I signed was a political success I probably wouldn’t be getting asked this question; I get the impression some of the other candidates are claiming credit for projects that hundreds of people were involved in and that they weren’t necessarily the architect of.

“Running EUSA is not about being a component part of change so much as it is leading change – that is where I succeed,” he continued, “It certainly won’t bode well for the smooth and effective running of the Unions (and the many external bodies EUSA deals with) if the President claims all the credit for everything they’ve been vaguely ‘involved’ with.”

“As convenor of the Debates Union, I have doubled membership, tripled the number of university-wide events, got more guest speakers in than ever before, tripled the number of external competitions that we hold and have increased projected income by over 100% from the previous 5 years.

“What I have got is good experience of delivering promises, getting the best from a team and keeping my eye on several projects at once.”

Liz Rawlings - a former editor of The Student – says she has campaigned through both journalism and activism on issues such as HMO quotas, equality and the environment.

She said: “Experience in EUSA is not adequate experience to represent students because as last week’s inquorate EUSA General Meeting demonstrated, EUSA are not in touch with the average student.

“I hope to open up the students’ association and make it more representative of the larger student body rather than just a small minority.

“I hope The Student’s readers will get in touch and tell me what I can do to help their own education experience.”

Though it is not yet clear how the varying levels of experience our candidates have will affect the election, what is certain is that all the candidates have something contribute to EUSA.

Voting will take place online on 4 Wednesday  and 5 Thursday  of March - manual polling stations will also be available during these days at both Potterrow and King’s Buildings.