Interim student council elections turnout figures higher than last year
The figures for the turnout in the midterm poll from the central voting office are hopeful: most faculty councils already had more voters on Tuesday afternoon than on Wednesday afternoon in 2022. The CSR records an interim increase of 1.6 percent.
Many faculties are seeing an increase in their midterm turnout rates in student council elections compared to last year. This is according to a poll conducted by the central election office at 5:05 p.m. on Tuesday. Especially notable is the increase at the Faculty of Dentistry. Whereas last year only 7.3 percent of Dentistry students had cast their vote (on Wednesday afternoon) for faculty councils, this year on Tuesday afternoon it was already 20 percent.
The main indicator, the Central Student Council (CSR), also shows a steady increase in turnout figures compared to previous years. In 2022 and 2021, the turnout for the council on Wednesday was still 6.4 percent and 7.0 percent, respectively. This year, it was already 8.0 percent on Tuesday, equal to 3,422 votes.
An outlier for this pattern is the Faculty of Law. The turnout there, both in the Politics, Psychology, Law and Economics (PPLE) Faculty and the general Law program, is somewhat disappointing. At PPLE - which traditionally records high attendance figures - the midterm turnout this year is “only” 29 percent. Last year it was 30.8 percent, and as high as 35.4 percent in 2021. The general law school records an interim drop of 1.5 percent.
Just enough candidates
Missing from the list below is the Medical program for both the bachelor's and master's tracks. Last year the Medical school did not even hold elections because there were too few candidates. This year, the bachelor's and master's tracks have turnouts of 11 and 2 percent, respectively.
There was also a brief question this year as to whether a faculty council election could proceed. The LIEF, STEM, and The Founding Students parties petitioned the central voting committee to cancel the elections for the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science (FNWI) because there were (along with the Activist Party) just enough candidates for the number of seats available.
Because the Activist Party did not agree, the central electoral committee rejected the three parties' request in an official decision, so the elections went ahead as usual this week. FNWI's midterm turnout is 6 percent, down slightly from last year. To what extent the commotion surrounding this election affected this is unknown.
UvA students can still vote in student council elections until Friday, May 12. They can vote for both the Central Student Council and the faculty council of their own program.
