It is a well-established tradition; Hereford Sixth Form College holds internal mock elections. In General Election years, the actual candidates from North and South Hereford are invited form a panel and participate in a husting where the student audience get the opportunity to pose testing questions. This is always followed by an online electronic vote.
As there is no General Election this year, students themselves stood as candidates for several UK parties and even included an Independent.
The Election campaign extended over several weeks beginning with a first hustings on the 29th January. This set a Debate Society record attendance for the academic year with a total of 142 students present. Student Candidates began with 3 minutes speeches. They then covered the topics of Environmental sustainability and Immigration.
The second hustings on the 12th February saw 109 students in attendance. This time they omitted speeches, allowing even more time for in depth questions. The topics were the Economy/Taxation and Foreign Policy Both sessions led to intense questioning from the audience.
The online voting saw a grand total of 511 students participating- yet another record!
The winning Candidate was Hadyn OB; (pictured with Enrichment Lead Marco Martinelli). He managed to gain more votes than all the other candidates combined – with a total of 272 votes
The runners up (in order) were
- LIB DEM Miles MD: 53
- REFORM Elliott W: 51
- INDEPENDENT Max C: 46
- LABOUR Tristan P: 40
- CONSERVATIVE Cameron K: 28
- YOUR PARTY Charlotte DB: 20
Young people are often cited as being apathetic when it comes to politics. Not so much at HSFC! The enthusiasm and levels of active participation shown in these events has been exceptional. We hope to repeat the process each year.
Article written and provided by HSFC Enrichment Lead Marco Martinelli.
