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Foto: Daniël Rommens
international

Malaysian student Ken Chew elected for the Central Students’ Council

Willem van Ewijk,
24 mei 2017 - 16:04

The candidate for the UvA Sociaal Party focussed his election campaign on securing more rights for international students, such as holding sessions of the Central Students’ Council in English. Winning 438 votes, the Communication Science student from Malaysia was just sixteen votes short of winning the highest total amount.

Guido Bakker, candidate for the liberal party De Vrije Student, beat Chew by 16 votes, receiving a total of 454 votes.

 

De Decentralen, a student party led by Sebastiaan Proos with a focus on the democratisation of the UvA, won three of the seven directly electable seats – making it the largest party represented in the Central Students’ Council.  

Foto: Ken Chew

Roeterseiland

UvA Sociaal lost one seat, taking it down to only two seats in the council. De Vrije Student won a seat, so Guido Bakker will have a fellow party member at his side during the council’s assemblies. Six other seats will be occupied by delegates elected from the faculty student councils.

 

It was the first time the results of the elections were broadcasted on the Roeterseilandcampus where the Board of the University has recently set up office. The central hall of the E-building was filled with students when rector magnificus Karen Maex announced the results on Monday.

 

Psychological
Turnout for the elections was 20,19 per cent — not much higher than previous years but, according to Folia editor Dirk Wolthekker, it feels like the honour of the Central Students’ Council has somehow been saved now that the ‘psychological barrier’ of twenty per cent turnout has been breached. ‘It is considred as a positive sign for university democracy,’ Wolthekker says.