Last updated: December 2025 (Election Rules are to be reviewed every 12 months)
We want our elections to be free, fair, and compliant with the rules and relevant legislation. Our election rules exist to ensure that, as a democratic and student-led organisation, our members get to have their say on how The Students' Union is run and who their student leaders are. These rules are designed to ensure that all candidates compete on a level playing field.
If you have any questions about the rules, or you're thinking about running in the election, support is available from the Elections Team. You can get in touch with us by email at suelections@uwe.ac.uk.
Our Principles
These principles form the overarching guidance from which our specific rules are written, and all candidates should abide by these principles, including the intention and meaning behind the rules, specified here:
- Fairness and Transparency: All elections will be conducted fairly, impartially, and transparently, ensuring equal opportunity for candidates and clear communication of rules and processes.
- Democracy and Inclusivity: Elections will uphold democratic values by fostering an inclusive environment that encourages participation from the entire, diverse UWE Bristol student community.
- Informed Engagement and Accountability: We are committed to inspiring active engagement and cultivating informed voters. The election process will empower students to meaningfully contribute to the selection and accountability of elected officers, shaping the Union's direction.
- Strategic Alignment and Impact: Elections will facilitate the selection of student leaders whose goals align with the SU's mission, values, and strategic objectives. This ensures incoming leadership drives evidence-based improvements responding to student needs and demand.
- Integrity and Accountability: The integrity of the election process is paramount. Clear mechanisms will address rule breaches and uphold ethical conduct, ensuring trust in outcomes.
- Continuous Improvement: We are committed to continuously reviewing and improving election processes, learning from past experiences and incorporating best practices from the sector.
- Student and Staff Wellbeing: Election processes and timelines will always consider and support the physical and mental wellbeing of all involved, including candidates, campaign teams, SU staff, and UWE Bristol staff.
All candidates must abide by the Law, the policies of the University and Students’ Union. If there is a discrepancy between the Election Rules and Bye Law 2 (Elections), these Election Rules will take precedence.
1. Manifestos
1.1 Manifestos and slogans are not mandatory for candidates; however they are highly recommended. To be included in Students’ Union produced information, candidates must meet deadlines set.
1.2 Manifestos and slogans must not mislead students, mention individuals other than the candidate themselves by name, and must align with The Students' Union's values.
2. Campaigning
2.1. A campaign team, or campaign, is made up of a candidate, their campaign manager and the individuals who are working to help get them elected, known as “campaigners”.
2.1.a. The campaign manager will be the candidate's registered nominee with whom the elections team will communicate alongside the candidate and in their stead.
2.1.b. A campaign team cannot exceed 10 people, not including the candidate themselves and their manager, who will lead the team alongside the candidate.
2.1.c. The name of the agent and a list of the members of the campaign must be submitted to the Elections Team. Once the maximum of 10 campaign team members has been officially logged with the Election Team, no further additions are permitted.
2.2. A campaign team must only include registered UWE Bristol students; however, candidates may receive advice from non-students and may receive graphic design support from non-students.
2.3. During the campaign period candidates and their campaigners must be easily identifiable to any person they are engaging with. If candidates choose not to use their budget for identifiable campaign clothing, they must wear Elections Team supplied clothing whilst campaigning.
2.4. Digital campaigning (e.g. posting on social media) is permitted once candidates have completed a mandatory candidate briefing. However, the candidates cannot begin physical campaigning (e.g. posters up in authorised spaces) until the official campaign period has begun. Candidates who do not attend a mandatory candidate briefing cannot begin campaigning and may be disqualified from the Election.
2.5. Campaigns must not use the logos, iconography, or text which implies the endorsement of any registered student group (sports club/society) unless and until that group has endorsed their candidate and confirmation from the Elections Team has been received by the candidate.
2.6. The Students’ Union may organise an event that allows candidates to answer questions from an appointed Chair as part of their campaigning activities. This will not be mandatory for candidates but highly recommended.
2.7. Campaigning must not take place in any UWE Bristol library or in the close proximity of a polling station.
3. Voting
3.1. During voting, campaigners must not interfere with the free and fair ballot casting of a student. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Seeking to influence or deliberately observe a voter who is engaged in the act of voting;
- Casting a vote for someone else, with or without their consent;
- Offering a cash bribe or goods in return for votes;
- Handle a device that is used for casting a vote or provide their own voting device (an electronic device with access to The Students’ Union website is considered a voting device).
3.2. If voters are concerned about their vote or wish to remove it, they can complete the Elections Complaint Form.
4. Slates
4.1 Candidates may run on a slate so long as they have made this agreement with other candidates and informed the Election Team prior to the deadline.
4.2. Slates may collaborate to produce materials which benefits all candidates in their slate, however, any expenditure for these materials (i.e. campaign t-shirts) will be split equally between all candidates. It is the responsibility of the individual candidate to ensure that their budget is being used fairly and that budget limits are not exceeded combined with any individual expenses occurred.
4.3. Candidates in a slate may be subject to sanctions imposed on another slate member should the Election Team deem that they have also gained an unfair advantage with a rule breach.
4.4. Collaboration between campaigns whose candidates are not on an official slate is acceptable and encouraged. Non-slate collaborators cannot pool campaign resources, produce campaign content that features other candidates or combine budget but may still encourage voters to vote for candidates in other positions.
5. Staff Members
5.1. UWE Bristol Staff and permanent staff of The Students’ Union are prohibited from campaigning and shall stay impartial during the election period, except for Presidents who are running for re-election, who must take annual leave to campaign.
5.2. The Presidents and Officers of The Students’ Union cannot endorse any candidate. Casual staff employed by The Students’ Union may engage in campaigning and endorse candidates but may not do so whilst on duty, whilst wearing The Students’ Union uniform, or in connection with their role as a member of staff. Additionally, they must notify the Deputy Returning Officer by email of their intention to campaign for a candidate prior to voting opening.
5.3. Members of staff may be approached for professional advice and shall give information equally to all campaigners.
6. Budget and Spending
6.1. No campaign may spend more than £50. The Students' Union will reimburse all clearly evidenced expenditure up to this £50 limit.
6.2. The Students' Union may, at the discretion of the DRO, supply campaigns with basic resources free of charge, and these will not have to be accounted for in candidates' expenses. The list of materials provided to candidates will be circulated by the Elections Team prior to the start of campaigning.
6.3. All campaigns must submit to the Elections Team an accurate record of the expenditure incurred by their campaigns by the deadline given through the Elections Budget Form. This is also the deadline for campaign materials to be purchased and/or produced. Campaigns that submit their expenses after the deadline, in a format other than that specified by the Elections Team, or in an incomplete fashion may be disqualified at the discretion of the Deputy Returning Officer.
6.4. If no expenditure is incurred, this must be submitted to the Elections Team by the same deadline via the Elections Budget Form, or the same disqualification may apply.
6.5. Campaigns may not use any resources belonging to The Students' Union (e.g. printers, staff laptops/email accounts) unless provided by the Elections Team. Campaigns must also not use any logos, iconography, or text which may imply endorsement by The Students' Union or UWE Bristol - this includes the logos of The Students' Union, UWE Bristol, and Team UWE.
6.6. Candidates using UWE Bristol student printers at no cost will need to declare their printing through the Elections Budget Form to add to their budget limit at the following rates:
- 5p per A3/A4 (or 2 x A5) black & white page
- 15p per A3/A4 (or 2 x A5) single sided colour page
- 30p per A3/A4 (or 2 x A5) double sided colour page
- Large scale: A2 (£2), A1 (£4), A0 (£8)
The Elections Team requires campaigns to submit a copy of their printing history from UWE Bristol, to get a copy you must log into your printing account here.
7. Endorsements
7.1. Campaigners are prohibited from seeking "external endorsements" - that is, an endorsement by any individual that is not a UWE Bristol student or registered student group (sports club/society).
7.2. For the avoidance of doubt; UWE Staff, The Students' Union Staff, and any and all external individuals/organisations (e.g. Members of Parliament, political parties, companies) must not endorse or show favour towards/against any particular candidate.
7.3. However, individual students and registered student groups (sports clubs/societies) may choose to endorse a candidate during our elections and the below rules cover the process by which these endorsements will be made officially.
7.3.a. Societies and Sports Clubs must, if they so choose, endorse only one candidate in each role within the election.
7.3.b. An endorsement can only be submitted once all manifestos have been published to ensure that informed decisions can be made.
7.3.c. The society/club committee must only endorse a candidate if a majority of the committee consents to the endorsement and must email suelections@uwe.ac.uk with evidence of this endorsement once this agreement has been reached.
7.3.d. If a candidate is a member of the committee of a society/club committee, they are entitled to ask the committee to endorse them, however they must remove themselves from any decision on which candidate to endorse and/or if the society/club should endorse a candidate.
7.3.e. Once their endorsement has been confirmed by the DRO, the society/club is allowed to share their endorsement with members and may encourage their members to support a candidate if they so wish. However, they must not force their members to vote for a specific candidate.
7.3.f. Candidates and members of the club/society must abide by the terms and guidelines set by the club/society when posting on groups, moderators of the social media site have a right to remove posts if they consider them not to be in keeping with these terms.
7.3.g. Societies and Sports Clubs must comply with these rules and the wider election rules and principles. Failure to do so may result in sanctions for the society/club or the campaign they have supported. Any questions can be addressed to the Elections Team at suelections@uwe.ac.uk.
8. Conduct and Complaints
8.1. Candidates are accountable for the behaviour of those campaigning on their behalf, including any potential sanctions for breaches of the election rules, Students' Union and University rules and the law. In the event of a breach of the rules by a campaigner, candidates must satisfy the Elections Team that they did everything practicable to ensure that their campaign team abide by the election rules.
8.2. Any full member of The Students' Union may submit a complaint if they believe a campaign is in breach of these rules. Complaints must be submitted using the official Elections Complaint Form, and must be submitted within 24 hours of the incident concerned unless there are mitigating circumstances explaining a delay to submission. The deadline for complaints will be when voting closes unless they concern the conduct of the count, and the count will not begin until any outstanding complaints have been resolved and signed off by the Returning Officer.
8.3. All campaigners, Union staff and Elections team members agree not to make any negative, false or unsubstantiated claims against another candidate, person, or organisation. This is confirmed through signing a code of conduct to ensure full understanding and accountability.
8.4. Repeated and/or vexatious complaints submitted by a candidate may potentially lead to sanctions.
8.5. All rulings on the interpretation of these rules fall to the Deputy Returning Officer. Any appeals will be referred to the Returning Officer, and any such ruling will be final. The authority of both the Deputy Returning Officer and the Returning Officer to do so is defined according to the Bye Laws and Constitution of The Students' Union, and these election rules form part of the Notice of Election as defined in the Bye Laws.
8.6. Complaints must be factual and contain evidence of the alleged rule breach. Hearsay, or events which the complainant has not directly witnessed, is unlikely to be successful. Complaints should include as much information as possible about time, location, and any relevant features for identification (e.g. whether CCTV of the area may be available).
8.7. Complaints will be considered by the Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) in consultation with the Assistant Returning Officers (AROs). The procedure to be followed in considering a complaint is as follows:
- Complaint received by DRO, complainant sent acknowledgement of complaint.
- Evidence and veracity of complaint examined. Additional information may be requested.
- DRO decides whether to investigate or reject complaint.
- Complaint investigated with the evidence provided and any additional evidence which can be found.
- If applicable, subject of the complaint invited to attend resolution meeting with Elections Team.
- Complaint rejected/upheld, complainant and subject notified. It is at the discretion of the Elections team on what information regarding complaint outcomes will be notified to the electorate.
8.8. Potential outcomes from the complaints process may include, but is not limited to, the following actions:
- Complaint dismissed – no action taken
- Warning to candidate/campaign team
- Referral to a competent authority (e.g. Students’ Union, University or Police)
- Restriction on campaigning in whole or in part for a defined period
- Restriction on material in whole or in part for a defined period
- Not being reimbursed for rule-breaking elections expenses
- Confiscation of election resources and material
- Disqualification from the election
8.9. If the subject of the complaint is unhappy with the outcome, they may submit an appeal.
8.9.a. Appeals must be submitted on the basis of significant evidence which was not considered by the Elections Team or on the basis of a failure to carry out the correct procedure.
8.9.b. A student who wishes to appeal may do so within 4 business hours (Between 09:00 – 17:00) of receiving the notification from the Deputy Returning Officer, and will do so by email to suelections@uwe.ac.uk. The exception to this will be on the day of results being scheduled for release (Friday 27 March) where appeals must be lodged by 12pm midday.
8.9.c. The appeal will be considered by the Returning Officer and their decision on the matter will be final.