The Royal College has announced the winners of the 2009 RCVS Council and VN Council elections.

This year, a special elections section was set up here on VetSurgeon.org and on VetNurse.co.uk for members to engage directly with candidates in a members forum, or directly using the social networking features on both sites. In the interests of promoting democracy, the sites offered a case of champagne to the voter who started the forum discussion which generated the greatest number of responses. Over the course of the voting period, these sections received over 23,000 page views, 53 questions for candidates, and 650 responses.

Arlo Guthrie, Editor of VetSurgeon.org and VetNurse.co.uk said: "I think it's great that the candidates agreed to try this. They could have said no, and stuck with the traditional methods of communication (which are more of a known quantity). Instead, they really got stuck in to some interesting and at times lively debate. My sincere thanks to all candidates and congratulations to the winners. And I raise my glass to Phil Elkins, who wins the case of champagne for starting the most active discussion thread, even allowing for the number of times he responded to his own post!"

Voting in the RCVS Council election increased from 17% to 18.2% this year, with 4,041 veterinary surgeons out of a possible 22,201 casting a vote. The results are as follows:

NUTE, Patricia Jill. 2,467 votes. Elected
JINMAN, Peter. 2,346 votes. Elected
GRAY, Christopher John. 2,230 votes. Elected
DAVIES, Jeremy Vincent. 2,229 votes.  Elected
VINER, Bradley. 2,123 votes. Elected
TUFNELL, Christopher Wynne. 2,088 votes. Elected
SWAYNE, Nigel. 1,673 votes. 
McDOWELL, David Michael. 1,394 votes.
LONSDALE, Thomas. 389 votes.

The new Council members are Christopher Gray and Christopher Tufnell, who will officially join Council at RCVS Day on 3 July 2009.

The VN Council elections saw a larger increase in voters, with 912 out of a possible 8,108 VNs casting a vote. This was an 11.2% turnout, up by nearly 25% up on last year. The results were as follows:

JEFFERY, Andrea Karen. 604 votes. Elected
GLYSEN, Louise. 332 votes. Elected
WILLIAMS, Caroline Mary. 312 votes.
IVES, Cheryl Diana. 236 votes.    

Louse Glysen is the new VN Council Member (again, officially joining at RCVS Day) and Andrea Jeffery will begin her eighth year, having been the Council's chairman for the past four years.

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