On Thursday 7th May, HABS boys threw in their hats and marked their crosses next to their favoured candidates in a Mock General Election, following the real UK election.

As part of the run-up to the HABS Mock Election, candidates from the Upper Sixth held a ‘hustings’ session, where they debated with each other and spoke to the prospective voters about why they should win their vote. Memorable moments included the Conservative candidate, Gordon Hao, declaring that “everyone loves money, so why not vote for us to block tax rises?” and the UKIP candidate, Russell Hughes, pointing out that “it’s about space, not race”; a comment raucously received by the assembly. The Greens also took several notable hits, with the Labour candidate pointing out that “the Greens can set out whatever policies they want in their manifesto; they’re never going to get the power to implement them anyway”. Regardless, the standard of debate was extremely high and, following a discussion on possible coalition agreements and final statements by each candidate, the hustings session was declared closed.

As HABS boys flocked to the polls (read: their computers, on Habsnet) to vote for their preferred party and candidate, tensions were high. Would the fashionably different and centrist Liberal Democrats do surprisingly well? Would the established, well-known Conservative option of the last five years sway over voters? Would Labour’s image of better living standards and a fairer society enamour the champagne socialists of HABS? Would voters, with the aim of creating a ‘Purple Revolution’ (just for the fun of it, of course) elect UKIP to government? Stakes were high, but the results on the 9th of May delivered an all too familiar and tried-and-tested option – another five years of the Conservatives. Here were the final results:

Conservatives – Gordon Hao – 292 votes – 41%
Labour – Vishnu Gnanasubramanian – 125 votes – 18%
UKIP – Russell Hughes 119 votes – 17%
Green – Jacob Tucker – 103 votes – 13%
Liberal Democrats – Sam Grossman – 75 votes – 11%