Salient

A-Team suffers shock election defeat despite increased turnout

By Laura McQuillan | 8 Oct, 2007

The A-Team missed out on any positions on the 2008 VUWSA exec, despite being credited with increasing the voter turnout.

A-Team Presidential candidate Lukas Schroeter says the group is “a bit disappointed” with the election results, which were announced on Friday, September 28.

The group put up 14 candidates – one for each executive position and one for University Council Representative.

It appears the result came down to the issue of funding for clubs and rep groups. The A-Team had announced an intention to scrap funding, instead offering students a $25 refund of their $120 VUWSA levy, which could then be voluntarily donated to clubs.

Schroeter believes the policy was not communicated to clubs and rep groups effectively enough. He believes the policy boosted voter turnout but meant the majority of club and rep group members voted against the A-Team.

Political commentators believe the plan to cut clubs funding was the major flaw in the A-Team’s campaign, as well as their right-wing and VSM links.

Schroeter received 492 votes for the Presidency – nearly 500 fewer than President-elect Joel Cosgrove. In the positions of the Vice Presidencies and Treasurer, where there were only two contenders in each category, the A- Team candidates lost each position by over 1200 votes.

Their Queer Rights Officer Sam Archer candidate received 431 votes, and their International candidate Bradley Jacques, and Environment candidate Cameron Cotter received 485 and 520 votes respectively.

Women’s Rights Officer candidate Aimee Sanders fared slightly better, picking up 531 votes, which some commentators have attributed to her good looks, whilst her penchant for vanilla lattes appears to have counted against her.

The five A-Team General Exec candidates were the category’s lowest polling candidates. The A-Team’s campaign was one of the most prominent and well-thought-out VUWSA election campaigns in recent history, and included a proposed budget, extensive negative advertising about the 2007 exec and a website and DVD using images of the Muppets.

Schroeter says the A-Team has no plans at this stage to contest next year’s election.