Emma Norton and Nick Brown are disputing the conduct and results of recent Arts Union elections at UWA. Credit:David Allan-Petale In other words, this was an election where candidates could barely campaign - even regular students were restricted from talking about the election. These kinds of voting arrangements are in place with UWA's Blackstone Society, which represents law, but this was the first time these restrictions had applied to arts. UWA arts union president Izzy Wilson said the new regulations introduced more equity into the election. "Previously students could form "tickets", would spend hundreds of dollars on election materials and campaigned in-person for the duration of voting," Ms Wilson said.

Candidates were restricted to producing a single poster to promote themselves under new rules adopted by the UWA Arts Union. Credit:Facebook "This meant an individual who had external commitments, was unable to afford the cost of materials, or wished to run as an independent, did not have an equal chance of being elected. It also meant any politically-minded groups, or large friendship groups, had an advantage over individual students." But Ms Norton disputes that, saying there was a total ban on candidates forming tickets last year, and that the new rules have made it even more difficult for candidates outside the mainstream political groups on campus to get elected. "Effectively what these new rules did was to lock in the networks of people who had been to private schools or are in the regular student politics movements - they have ready made networks and don't really need to campaign, they can muster lots of support behind the scenes and in private, so it was a move to lock in the elite," she said. But even with the restrictions, Ms Norton said by the second of three days of voting, she had taken more than sixty per cent of the votes - something she attributes to frustration within the arts student body at the dominance both the young Liberal and Labor movements on campus.

A socialist Norton presidency seemed in the bag - but then she got an email saying she was disqualified. Three other candidates also got the flick, even after they had accrued large chunks of the vote. "Apparently there was a video taken by a man who I've accused of stalking me in the past, and it shows me talking to a friend and saying I'd get her a ballot so she could vote," Ms Norton said. That's hardly a stump speech, but it seems this was enough to strike Ms Norton from the ballot under the new rules, despite her claiming to witness several Liberal affiliated candidates saying "don't vote for the communists" in an area where returning officers and voters were present. Ms Wilson said the Arts Union is not aware of any students filming Ms Norton inappropriately.

"The returning officers have discretion to apply sanctions that are proportionate to the breach, or in response to repeat breaches. It is practice to give informal warnings and then formal warnings prior to any sanction being applied to allow a candidate to change their behaviour," she said. "Candidates may submit complaints where they believe another candidate has breached the regulations, and are encouraged to include evidence to assist the returning officers to confirm or reject allegations. "Where a candidate does not agree with a decision made by the returning officers, there are avenues for appeal. Appeals are rare in faculty society elections as candidates usually respect the regulations and the returning officers. "Emma Norton has appealed to the UWA student guild who are considering her complaint." Ms Norton doesn't give her appeal much chance of succeeding - but she's launched an online petition to support the effort.

"Like most official bodies on the campus, (the arts union) is dominated by a privileged little clique of student politicians and private school head boys and girls. It operates as an exclusive, personal party planning committee for those who control it, usually elected by a handful of their friends each year. "We decided to put an argument to students that it was time for a different kind of arts union. Such a move is apparently unacceptable to UWA's cabal of student aristocrats. They responded to this challenge, not with rational argument, but with undemocratic and bullying behaviour." A member of UWA's guild council, Nick Brown, said many students feel that the election was rigged from the start. "All candidates were banned from campaigning or even talking to students about the elections. Members of the current arts union were accused of stalking and harassing candidates they don't like. But to say that all those votes for Emma and the others don't count, is just incredible." Whatever the outcome, one thing is clear - student politics is definitely good preparation for the real thing.