By ELLA MURRAY

Candidates from incumbent Together will be elected unopposed to the top three Monash Student Association (MSA) positions, more than a week before students at Clayton have a chance to cast their votes.

The MSA has declared, due to a lack of opposition, Together candidates will occupy the positions of President, Secretary and Treasurer next year. 

This is in stark contrast to last year’s election, when these positions were hotly contested by candidates from Activate, Left Action and Together.

Together claimed 70-75 per cent of the formal votes for these roles in 2018.

Both the Activate and Left Action tickets have retreated from this year's political contest, with Activate only nominating one candidate, who will contest six positions, and Left Action nominating three.

Thirteen officer positions have already been awarded to Together. Grassroots and Rainbow Collective candidates will also be elected unopposed as Disabilities & Carers Officer and Queer Officers respectively.

The remaining 6 officer positions are in contention. 

Together president-elect James McDonald said no nominees were put forward for the two Queer Officer positions, due to an established agreement with the Rainbow Collective. 

“We fully believe that they represent the queer community on campus much better than we do and we could, and we are absolutely excited to work with the Queer Officers next year,” Mr McDonald said. 

No positions within the entire Mental Health & Resilience Committee will be contested - the only committee not to see any competition for roles. Together will occupy 10 seats on the committee and Grassroots will occupy seven.

Together have put forward 94 nominations this election, Climate Action trail with 45 and Grassroots with 35. 

MOJO News contacted both Climate Action and Grassroots to ask why they did not nominate anyone for the top three positions. They declined to comment.

Secretary-elect Santino Raftellis said the absence of these positions from the ballot will not impact voter turnout, nor would it impact Together’s approach in the lead-up to the election.

“We passionately believe we should be out there talking to students during election week, and it doesn’t matter if we’ve been elected or if we haven’t,” he said. 

“It’s a great opportunity for student representatives and those standing to be elected to actually talk to students and tell them about the work that we do and the work that we want to do.” 

Students will go to the polls between September 23-26.