Council Elections Attract Student Leaders

Outgoing student presidents at the University of Canterbury and University of Otago may set a New Zealand first if they are elected to respective city councils in Christchurch and Dunedin in October.

The two presidents are Erin Jackson, currently completing her second term as the President of the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA), and Francisco Hernandez the 2013 President at Otago University Students’ Association (OUSA).

Erin (24) is standing for the Spreydon/ Heathcote Ward in Christchurch. An avid supporter of community engagement, Erin believes she can can get people "talking about what things will make Christchurch different in the future," and represent the "youth voice" of the city.

Fran (22) is standing for Dunedin’s Central Ward. He is promising to put his experience to use to pursue a fresh vision for Dunedin. “I will work to upgrade Dunedin’s housing stock, generate jobs, strengthen ties between city/university/polytechnic , and improve Dunedin’s public transport through better buses and safer cycleways”.

Their respective campaign websites can be found at erinjacksonccc.com/ and www.facebook.com/Fran4Dunedin

The NZ Union of Students’ Associations (NZUSA), originally established in 1929, has searched its records and can’t find another instance of two student presidents running for election at local government level in the same year.

“In contrast to Parliament, where a number of former student leaders have worked their way through to becoming MPs, the incidence of student leaders standing for office in local government elections seems to be very rare,” says NZUSA President Pete Hodkinson.

“We obviously wish both Erin and Fran all the best for their election campaigns. Taking the step of standing in the local council elections is a credit to them both as individuals, and is a great example of the commitment that all student leaders have to democratic representation”.

NZUSA has supported more student involvement in this year’s council elections by helping to co-promote initiatives such as Generation Zero’s scorecards of local candidates standing in major centres (http://localelections.generationzero.org.nz/) and an innovative Wellington initiative to ensure mayoral candidates are thoroughly quizzed about their election platforms at www.askaway.co.nz

A brief video with the message ‘Make Your Vote Count’ was also produced at http://students.org.nz/local-elections

ENDS

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