The Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) sabbatical elections have been eventful this year. Despite early polling showing Seán Thim O’Leary in the lead, it has been evident from its launch that the campaign to re-open nominations (RON) has been gaining momentum. And now, with a snap poll conducted by Trinity News yesterday, data suggests that as much as 54% of voters in the presidential race intend to vote RON.
Re-opening the nominations for a presidential race has not won in recent memory — so what would this look like for candidates and voters?
When will nominations be reopened?
There is no mandatory timeline for the reopening of nominations outlined in the TCDSU constitution.
The electoral commission (EC) told Trinity News: “The constitution isn’t particularly prescriptive with regards to the procedure to be followed in the case of a re-open nomination vote having been returned, requiring only that nomination be re-opened in accordance with chapter 7.3.5 of the constitution.”
This chapter states that nominations must be open for at least one week, and a two-week pre-campaigning period must be given between before elections begin – meaning a tight turnaround after reading week if the re-run is to take place during the teaching term.
When nominations were reopened for University Times editor in 2022, nominations closed at the beginning of week nine of term, with elections kicking off in week 11 two weeks later. The campaign period was just four days, with voting taking place on the third and fourth day.
Are the current candidates allowed to run again?
There are no regulations against current candidates running for the position again once nominations have been reopened, meaning O’Leary along with Patrick Keegan and Giovanni Li will have the chance to run again.
Candidates have the opportunity to run a fresh campaign, and may enter the election with an entirely new manifesto if they wish.
Would the new president begin their term later than usual?
No. Sabbatical officers only begin their term of office at the start of July each year, meaning that a short delay in any election does not impact the length of their tenure.
Has this ever happened before?
The decision to RON in a TCDSU sabbatical election is not exactly a common one. The last time RON won an election was in 2022, when a campaign was launched against the sole candidate for University Times editor. This is the only time in at least 12 years that a RON result has been returned in a students’ union election.
The candidate, the deputy editor of the paper, at the time did choose to run again, ultimately losing to new challenger Ailbhe Noonan.
Prior to that, the last formal campaign to re-open nominations for a sabbatical race was in 2019.
Muireann Kane, a final-year history of art and architecture and Italian student, was running uncontested for the position of communications and marketing officer. Kane narrowly won, with 51% of the vote against RON’s 49%.
