Ents candidate Nadia receives major strike from EC

This marks the first major and second overall strike issued during the campaign period

Following events on Monday (February 21) Entertainments Officer candidate Nadia has received a major strike from the Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Electoral Commission (EC).

This is the second strike that has been issued since the beginning of campaigning this week. Nadia and her team are not permitted to campaign for a total of four hours today; the ban will take place 12-1pm, 2-4pm and finally 6-7pm.

The strike was issued for breaking regulations governing campaigning hours. Schedule Three of the TCDSU constitution details that campaign hours are from 10am to 4pm each day of the election period, with a break between 1pm and 2pm, and between 7pm and 9pm in Trinity Hall. Nadia and her team were campaigning in Goldsmith Hall after 4pm on Monday.

Speaking to Trinity News today, Nadia stated “I didn’t realise at the time that I was breaking rules at all.” She admits that herself and her campaign team “genuinely just got confused” by the rules.

She expressed her annoyance that “I didn’t do any in-person campaigning the last two days because yesterday I was too sick to do any…[and today] I was banned from campaigning the rest of the day, which is so so frustrating. And I was just so upset”.

“It’s so unfortunate because I really have not been able to voice what I want people to hear from me.”

She believes that she should have received a minor strike rather than a major for the actions, stating that she “[doesn’t] think it [is] fair at all… a major strike is very extreme”.

The constitution states that if a candidate receives three minor strikes they will be struck off the ballot. Similarly, if a candidate receives two major strikes a decision will be made at the discretion of the EC as to whether the candidate will remain on the ballot.

Campaigning for sabbatical officer elections will continue until March 3. Voting will run from March 1 to 3. Students have until noon on March 1 to register to vote. The next hustings event is this Thursday (February 24) at 7pm, hosted by Trinity News and the University Times.

This article was amended at 6.36pm. It previously said that the regulations were broken on Tuesday; the campaigning in Goldsmith Hall after 4pm in fact took place on Monday.