30 Apr 2024
More vets voted in this year’s polls than in each of the past two years, though turnout still equated to less than one in five of the electorate.
Allister Webb
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The results of the annual elections to RCVS council and VN council have been released this afternoon (30 April).
A former college president is among the candidates to have lost out in this year’s contests, for which voting closed on Friday.
But, although more vets cast a ballot than in each of the previous two years, more than four in five of those who were eligible to vote did not do so.
Zara Kennedy, Sinead Bennett and David Barrett secured the highest shares of the vote among the 14 candidates nominated to stand for the college council this year.
Meanwhile, Kirsty Young and Susan Howarth have been elected to VN council, with all of the successful candidates set to take their seats at Royal College Day in London in July.
The unsuccessful candidates include former college president Kate Richards, who led the RCVS in 2021-22 and who was re-appointed to chair its education committee last month.
The elections this year took place in a backdrop of uncertainty around the future of the process, with other governance models currently under consideration amid suggestions reform could ultimately be imposed within new veterinary sector legislation.
Voter turnout among vets this year was 19.7%, higher than in both 2023 and 2022, but well below the 24.2% recorded in 2021.
But there was a further decline in participation for the VN council poll with just 7.4% of those eligible voting, down from 8.8% last year.
Meanwhile, the college has also confirmed that Christopher Loughrey, from the University of Glasgow, will replace James Wood as a Veterinary Schools Council-appointed council member this summer.
The full election results are as follows:
