Your manifesto is the most important element in your election campaign. It explains to students why you want to represent them and why they should vote for you. You will need to submit a 250-word manifesto in your nomination no matter what role you are applying for.  

There are four main stages of writing an impactful manifesto to help your message reach voters efficiently: Gathering Ideas, Boiling Down the Ideas, Get SMART, and Take it for a Test Drive! 

1. Gathering Ideas 

Arguably the first stage of gathering ideas is the most important. This is where you need to ask yourself two key questions: why am I standing and what do I want to achieve? These answers from these questions will be the starting point of your manifesto. Within these two overarching questions there will be other things to consider and ask yourself. These could include: what has driven you to run? What is it that you want to change? How will you change things? Has there been something you’ve experienced as a student that you want to improve for students? What solutions do you offer? 

Remember to mention any relevant experience you have had; sports and societies; volunteering; course rep. After all, who you are and what you believe in can help others understand you and your reasons for standing. 

If you haven’t fully decided what role to apply for then at this stage you might also want to consider having a detailed look at the job descriptions, for all the roles and see where your ideas would best fit. Likewise, you might want to talk to current officers, see what they set out to achieve in their role, what they have found both challenging and rewarding to help you decide what role to nominate yourself for. 

If you have already decided what role suits your mission, then this might be a good opportunity to find out what has been achieved by current and recent post holders. Likewise, talking to the current student leaders in the post might give you some more advice on your manifesto and campaign strategy. 

 

2. Boiling Down the Ideas 

Hopefully, at this point you have lots of ideas of what you want to cover in your manifesto, it’s time to start the cull. Some of your ideas, whilst brilliant, might not be realistic – for example, building a giant slide in the James Parsons Building sounds like an amazing idea, but will never happen. 

Remember that there is a 250-word limit for your manifesto, we ask you to give three commitments of which you would work on if you were elected. For each commitment, give a headline, and then any explanatory text you would like to add. Also, be considerate that some students may not know what an SU is or why they should vote, so ensure to make sure they can understand what you’re promising and issues you want to tackle. 

 

3. Get SMART 

We’re not talking about your dress code but instead about the tool SMART that will help you focus your objectives and make sure that you have clear manifesto points. 

So what is SMART? 

• Specific: Is your point clearly defined? 
• Measurable: Can you measure whether it was successful? 
• Achievable: Is it going to happen? 
• Relevant: Do students care about this? 
• Time-bound: When will you have it completed by? 

 

4. Take it for a Test Drive 

Speak to your friends, classmates, maybe a society or team you are a part of and ask them their thoughts. This is a key part of the writing process because it will give you some feedback on your ideas and help you to see if you’re on to a winner!  

So, there you go- four stages to writing a great, interesting, and impactful manifesto! 

 

Final Pointers:  

• Speak to students – find out what they want. 

• Avoid writing your manifesto as one long paragraph. Don’t write anything that isn’t true. 

• Think about why you would vote for someone and keep that in mind when writing to get others to vote for you. 

• Say something different. 

• Don’t use jargon or acronyms that only a minority of students will understand. 

• Create snappy titles for your aims and be concise with the description. 

• Make sure people know which position you are running for. 

• Don’t forget to tell people to vote for you! 

 

We want to make writing your manifestos as easy as possible so we’ve put together a couple of templates you can use to get yours together. You don’t have to use them, but feel free to if it helps.  

 

Template One 

Introduction:   

Hi, My name is……and I am running for the position(s) of……..because……..   

My experience and skills:  

I have experience in…….and have developed the following skills…….I believe these make me an ideal candidate.   

What I plan to do if elected:   

If elected I would aim to:   

- Objective 1   

- Objective 2  

- Objective 3  

I think these aims will have a positive impact on X because…..   

Closing statement:   

Vote for me...(insert voting dates)...   

 

Template Two 

Introduction:   

Hello, my name is.... I am running for... I am running because... I have these experiences which I could use to benefit students... I have previously been involved with JMSU through...   

Key Campaign Points:    

If elected I will campaign on the following things:   

1. Campaign Point 1   

This issue is important because...    

I will achieve the aim of this through...    

2. Campaign Point 2    

This issue is important because...    

I will achieve the aim of this through...    

3. Campaign Point 3    

This issue is important because...    

I will achieve the aim of this through...   

Closing Statement:   

Please make sure you remember to go out and vote... (insert dates) ... Please vote for me!