Welcome Candidates!

Congratulations on taking this exciting step in your student journey! Standing in the Full Time Officer elections shows real courage and commitment to making positive change on campus. Whether you're feeling nervous, excited, or a bit of both - that's completely normal. Remember, every successful candidate started exactly where you are now. Over the next few weeks, you'll learn new skills, meet amazing people, and have the chance to share your vision for improving student life at GCU. This page will help you navigate your campaign journey, but always remember - your passion for helping fellow students is your greatest strength.

We've developed this page and resources to help you navigate this journey. From compling your nomination to stand in the election to resources and training on campaigning. You will find it below!

Step 1. Complete your nomination

Nominations Open: Monday 26th January 2026 at 10am. You will need to be logged into our website to nominate yourself.

To complete the nomination you will need two things - a manifesto and a photo

Developing your Manifesto

When you submit a nomination, you will be asked to provide a manifesto no more than 300 words long. This is what students will see on the voting platform (along with your photo). Your manifesto is your chance to share your ideas and vision with voters - think of it as your written pitch to fellow students explaining who you are, what you want to change, and why they should elect you as their representative. 

Sounds daunting? Don't worry, fam, we got you! We will be hosting a Manifesto Training led by a former GCU Full Time Officer candidate and the Deputy Returning Officer on Friday 6th February at 11am online (Join the meeting now). If you can't make it or want to get a jump start on it, the tools we use in the training are below.

To ensure fairness, we can only give insights on strategy and tactics for your manifesto during training events as they are open to all candidates. Attending training is highly recommended but optional. 

Manifesto Writing Resources

Want to see examples of manifestos?

Visit www.GCUstudents.co.uk/resources and type 'manifestos' into the search box.

Equally, search 'Student Union manifestos' into a search engine.

Manifesto Planning & Preparation Activity Sheets

S.M.A.R.T Objective Worksheet

S.W.O.T Analysis Worksheet

National Union Of Students' Eight Manifesto Writing Tips

A Simple Manifesto Template

Candidate Photo 

The other thing you will need to for your nomination is your candidate photo. This will be displayed to voters on the voting platform as well used by the Students' Assocation to help promote you. You're manifesto and photo will have a dedicated webpage on the Students' Associations website and will also be printed in the manifesto booklet that will be handed out to voters. 

Make sure people can see you! The photos on the voting platform are small, especially if accessed on a mobile phone. So if you use a photo of you at a distance, voters won't be able to make out your face. It is recommended that you use a "headshot" photo, that way voters can recogonise you from your campaining work when they go to the polls. 

Step 2. Election Rules and Candidates' Briefing 

The Election Rules set out the parameters of the election and what you can and cannot do. They are really important to know!

The Candidates' Briefing will be an opportunity to hear straight from the Deputy Returning Officer (the person who organises the election and enforces the rules) what the rules are and what they mean in practice.

Candidates must attend! If a candidate (or their designated nominee) does not attend, they will be withdrawn from the election. 

This year, the briefing will be delivered online via Microsoft Teams.    

The Candidates' Briefing will take place on Friday 13th February 2026 from 2pm to 4pm online (Join the meeting now)

Slides from the Candidates's Briefing for the FTO Elections 2026 can be viewed here

Step 3. Assemble your Campaign Team

While having a campaign team is not an absolute necessity (we have seen many candidate-only campaign teams win!), it is often a good idea to have a few friends who can help support you. There are some important rules though around your campaign team that you need to be aware of.

1. All in-person campaigners need to be registered! As a candidate you are responsible for registering them. The deadline for registering your team in Monday 16th February 2026 at 12noon. Register them here!
2. All in-person campaigners must be current GCU students. You will need to note their GCU student ID on the registration form. 
3. No non-registered students can do in-person campaigning on your behalf and you cannot change your campaign team after the registration deadline. 
4. There is a maximum of four in-person campaigners allowed per candidate. 

Step 4. Complete Mandatory Training 

All candidates and in-person campaigners must complete the online mandatory training no later than Wednesday 18th February 2026 at 12noon. Candidates who do not complete the training will be withdrawn from the election. Campaigners who do not complete this training will not be allowed to campaign in-person. 

Complete the Mandatory Candidate and Campaigners Training here

Step 5. Further Developing your Campaign Skills

We've compiled a resource for candidates about how to campaign