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Allende Palma/Saracho and Michael Cox announce an alliance between their slates.

For those familiar with the inner workings of student politics, the picture didn’t quite fit. It looked as if the two leaders had swapped shirts.

Allende Palma/Saracho, Undergraduate Students Association Council president and one of the leaders of the Student Power! slate, was dressed in a white shirt with a green UCLA logo. Michael Cox, a prominent figure in the California Student Sustainability Coalition and the newly formed Future Front slate, was sporting a beige Student Power! shirt.

The two slates made their alliance public with a handshake between the two leaders. Palma/Saracho said the coalition represented the next generation of progressive movement at UCLA.

Jenny Wood, current USAC general representative and presidential candidate with Student Power!, and Megan Carney, general representative candidate with Future Front, also listed their slate’s accomplishments and goals as candidates from both slates stood behind them. They, too, sported shirts from the other slate.

Carney said Future Front was contacted by Student Power! when candidate applications were due last month since “Student Power! didn’t feel that they had anyone they wanted to run for general representative and facilities positions.”

Carney added that Future Front candidates did well as a part of an independent slate, but that this alliance will help them in terms of increasing their voter base.

This coalition might not be the only one forming in this year’s election.

During last Thursday’s presidential debates, Bruin Liberation Movement presidential candidate Jake Strom heavily criticized Wood’s candidacy but made clear his support for Bruins United presidential candidate Alex Gruenberg.

“I was impressed with what Alex said at the debate. ... That is not to say that I’m supporting him. I’m his opposition,” Strom said. “The Bruin Liberation Movement has every intention of smashing face in the upcoming elections.”

Strom added that his slate is serious about winning this election, but as far as relations with Bruins United go, he could see more of a possibility of a friendship with the members of that slate.

Gruenberg, who is also the current USAC Financial Supports commissioner, said he had never met Strom before the debate and added that there is no coalition between the two slates.

Gruenberg said Strom and his views of USAC could be taken as a good example of how a typical student sees the process, since Strom has not really been involved in council and its politics. “It’s the reaction of a typical apathetic voter in terms of who has the best interest of students in mind,” Gruenberg said about the compliments he had received during the debate.