BY RAY FULCHER
MELBOURNE — Left-wing students have won a landslide victory in elections for control of the Melbourne University Student Union, held here September 4-8. The Left Focus ticket won all office-bearer positions and won a majority on Student Council, for the first time in seven years.
The Student Alliance, a joint ticket of Labor and Liberal students which won the positions of president and general secretary in elections last year, split early this year.
Labor students ran as "Real Students" and the Liberals as "Zest", the antipathy between them demonstrated by a "Zest" decision to direct its preferences to Left Focus.
Neither right-wing ticket did particularly well, while another powerful right-wing grouping, the International Association, was absent from the elections altogether.
Left Focus ran a campaign with very little political content other than general progressive sentiments, although its material did encourage students to get involved in the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum.
There were three S11 tickets, one run by left-wing students and two by those from the right, all hoping to capitalise on the strong support for the protests amongst students.
Left Focus was also able to secure votes by supporting successful efforts to prevent the Student Alliance incumbents from closing the very popular food cooperative and from making undemocratic changes to the union's constitution.
The ticket's victory has been welcomed by activists, who hope it will ensure greater union resources for grassroots student campaigns. Such support has been frequently frustrated by the Student Alliance this year.