Mustafa Mahmoud was announced as the new president of the University of Westminster’s Student’s Union, at the annual ‘Results Night’ that took place on Friday.
The new UWSU president, Mustafa Mahmoud.
Jenny Ybanez hosted proceedings at the Regent Street campus, that attracted far more people than organisers had anticipated.
Queues outside the event indicated that many students had followed the elections. This made for a record number of voters as well as plenty of controversy.
Vice Presidential seats were awarded to representatives of each campus.
Winners on the night were Rianne Gordon (Harrow), Muaz Mahmoud (Regents & Little Titchfield Street), Jayesh Gohil (Marylebone) and Miriam Hanna (Cavendish); all of whom were part of the ‘Your 5’ campaign.
A full house for ‘Your 5’ was ruled out earlier in the week however, as presidential candidate Kaled Mimouni was disqualified just two days before voting closed.
The newly elected VPs.
A statement by the Returning Officer cited allegations of ‘harassment’ and giving ‘direct voting instructions at the point of voting’ by members of Kaled’s campaign.
Support for Mr. Mimouni was evident during the event amid chants of “we want Kaled” and a staged walkout prior to the announcement of the new president.
Mimouni was allowed to speak before the results – an opportunity he took to thank supporters and vow to “continue pressing hard for an inquiry”.
Speaking to Westminster News Online, Mimouni reiterated there had been a “miscarriage of justice”.
After news of the disqualification, Mimouni’s supporters started signing petitions, managing to collect over 1000 signatures.
Part of the protest against Mimouni’s disqualification.
“That’s more signatures and more support, than [votes] the winning candidate got,” claimed Mimouni, in what he described as a “phenomenal” show of support.
However, for the winner on the night, Mustafa Mahmoud, there is a year-long sabbatical ahead, budget responsibilities and a £23,000 salary.
“My life has changed”, Mahmoud said after the announcement.
It is a chance for him to turn weeks of listening to students and tireless campaigning into practice.
By Alex Gregory