UvA elects | Mid-term turnout for student council elections far exceeds expectations
The mid-term turnout figures for the student council elections are no less than one and a half times higher this year than in 2024. For example, 12 percent of students have already voted for the Central Student Council, compared to 7 percent last year.
Free lighters, dozens of sweets and even a dinosaur costume; prospective members have been pulling out all the stops since last Friday to convince students to vote in the student council elections. Preferably for their party, of course. So far, this attention has paid off: significantly more students voted for all faculty councils and the Central Student Council (CSR) than at the same time last year.
The turnout for the CSR rose from 7 per cent last year to 12 per cent in this year’s mid-term polls. This means that the total turnout for the elections, which was 15.8 per cent last year, is also likely to be significantly higher.
Whether this is solely due to the parties handing out flyers in REC-E remains to be seen. Several demonstrations at the UvA, including against the announced budget cuts and the pro-Palestine demonstrations, mobilised many committed students over the past year. During last Thursday’s debate between the CSR candidates, it became clear that the university’s ties with Israeli institutions still provoke strong reactions. How parties such as last year’s winner, the Activist Party, will fare in the interim poll is not yet known.
In 2024, voter turnout for the elections fell slightly (for the CSR, the number of voters dropped from 8 to 7 percent). However, during the voting period in May 2024, the UvA was closed for two days due to the pro-Palestinian occupations in the days leading up to the elections. After a court ruling, students were granted three extra voting days.
Faculty councils
Not only the CSR scores high in terms of turnout, but there have also been more votes for candidate members of the faculty student councils than in previous years. PPLE is by far the highest scorer. No less than 50 percent of PPLE students have already voted for a new student council for the law faculty (to which PPLE belongs organisationally). Last year, this figure was 28 percent in the interim poll. The percentage is also high at the Acta: 39 percent have already voted, while last year there were no elections at all at the faculty of dentistry due to a lack of candidates.
As usual, the lowest turnout is at the Department of Communication Sciences at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. 9 percent voted for their favourite candidate there. Last year, however, only half of the current turnout voted at this time: 4 percent.
Because turnout rates in 2024 were disappointing, the UvA asked lecturers to draw attention to the elections in their lectures this year. The parties themselves have until Friday 14 May to generate interest in the elections and their parties. Students can vote digitally until Friday evening. The official results of the elections will be announced on Friday 23 May at 3.30 p.m. in the Muziekzaal in Crea.
