Students in Darlington have been battling it out for the role of Student Association president.

Eight candidates stood for election to the post at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, in Darlington.

Posters adorned the college spelling out the candidates' strengths and policies, while the contenders and their teams mingled with the students, handing out stickers, campaign leaflets and T-shirts.

Mark Thompson, 17, of West Auckland, eventually secured a landslide victory. He said: "I'm looking forward to the coming year and will work hard to represent the students."

Runner-up and the new vice-president was 17-year-old Zee Abbas, from Darlington.

He said: "I'm ecstatic. It's an honour and I'm looking forward to working closely with Mark."

Meanwhile, four young political whiz kids will go head to head in the polls today in a mock election at their school.

Tudhoe Grange School, in Spennymoor, will hold its own battle of the candidates today when pupils vote for one of four year ten classmates.

Ian Geldard, 15, (Labour); Sarah Owens, 14, (Green Party), Christopher Stones, 14, (Conservative); and Nicholas Wood, 14, (Liberal Democrat) have each spent weeks canvassing for votes.

They have run poster campaigns, faced each other in debates and been quizzed by pupils about the political issues that concern them, such as tuition fees.

The election is part of the Y Vote mock elections project, run by the Hansard Society since the 1950s, to get young people engaged with politics.

Sedgefield Borough Council is lending the school polling booths and ballot boxes to make it authentic and the results could feature on BBC1's Newsround programme.