IT SEEMS USI president Colman Byrne will face a challenge to his efforts to win another year as president of the national students' union, after all.

While Campus Times reported last week that USI's education officer, Malcolm Byrne, had decided not to run, potentially leaving the presidential race a strictly one-horse affair, USI's southern area convenor Ian Lucey has since declared himself a presidential candidate. Siva Thirumlai, clubs and services officer in Queen's University Belfast, will also contest the presidency.

Lucey made his final decision to run the shortly before nominations closed, after earlier denying that he intended to contest any USI position.

Lucey has considerable support in the south and is likely to concentrate on what he calls USI's lack of a coherent regional policy - an issue which haslongeen a sensitive one for member colleges outside Dublin and which has contributed to USI's failure to attract UL and UCC back to the fold.

When nominations closed, Ronan Emmet of DITSU and Noel Clarke of St Pat's were the contenders for welfare officer, but Emmet has since pulled out.

Ray Lehane, USI's western area convenor, performed a kind of electoral Hokey-Kokey in recent weeks: he denied initially that he was running for deputy president, then emerged as one of the nominees before pulling out again last week. Helen Keogh, the current welfare officer, is now in line for the deputy presidency.

Mark McKenna of Dundalk RTC will contest the post of union development officer against serving UDO Dermot Quain.

As predicted, Malcolm Byrne is the sole nominee for education officer as he seeks a second term. Nuala Toman, the northern area women's rights officer, is likely to seek the national women's rights officer position.

Serious electioneering is likely to start this week. The final vote takes place at USI's national congress, in Westport, Co Mayo, early next month.

One proposal likely to come before congress is that the post of UDO should be altered from an elected to a staff position, responsible for training, development and accessing funds. This could also involve the removal of the post of deputy president in order to fund the new staff position.