Elections Off

There will be no special election for the whole Executive next week. This decision was arrived at after a full discussion of the constitutional position involved at an executive meeting last Monday. It appears that at the executive meeting at which the vote of no-confidence was passed the executive had before them an unamended copy of the Constitution which gave rise to the assumption that when one-third of the executive resigned, the whole executive was considered automatically to have resigned. This was not the true constitutional position, which is that the remaining members of the executive continue in office and arrange for an election for the vacated posts. As the president ruled that the eight members who supported the vote of no-confidence had not given notice to the secretary of an intention to resign it was left open to the eight members to either give such notice to the secretary, in which case a special election would have been held after the first term vacation, or that the executive in the best interests of the student body, continue in office and contest the issue at the general election. The first alternative would have led to a farcical position of a new executive being in office for 10 days or so while the general elections were being held. For this reason, the executive will remain in office until the expiry of their term of office.

It was felt that any further prolongation of the issue, in view of the terms of the Constitution, at a special election would of necessity be a contest between personalities, which was not sought by either the supporters or the opposers of the motion of no-confidence.