A professor who was narrowly defeated in the University and College Union’s general secretary election has called for a recount and alleged that election rules had been “violated”.
Ewan McGaughey lost to the incumbent Jo Grady in the fourth round of voting by 182 votes – 7,758 to 7,576 – which he pointed out represented just 0.1 per cent of the union’s total membership.
The King’s College London law professor collected 4,724 first-preference votes, before gaining 582 second preferences from opponent Saira Weiner, who was eliminated first in the single transferable vote system used by the union, and then 2,270 from Vicky Blake. With 5,990, Dr Grady had more first preferences and won 451 second preferences from Ms Weiner and 1,317 from Ms Blake to get over the line.
In a video posted online late on 4 March, Professor McGaughey pointed out that 148 ballots in the vote were deemed invalid and 1,797 were non-transferable – so, given the “unique circumstances, I’ve got an obligation to ask for a recount”.
