FOLLOWING a series of low voter turnout in the previous years, the UST Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) utilized social media to reportedly increase students’ participation in this year’s Central Student Council (CSC) election.
According to chairperson Julia Antoinette Unarce, the Central Comelec launched this year’s elections with the theme, “Eleksiyong Tomasino Para sa Mas Pinatibay na Konseho.”
“Comelec is for voter education,” Unarce said. “We have to go out of our way and think out of the box to reach out to the Thomasians [para] bumoto nang tama.”
Unarce explained the social media campaign involved statement photos and the Twitter hashtag #USTHalalan2015.
The Central Comelec urged students to vote.
“If we want to have a leader who is not apathetic to our concerns, we, too, [should] not be apathetic with the elections,” College of Education Comelec chair Johanna Liwanagan said.
Comelec officials also urged to vote based on issues, not the physical appearance of candidates.
Pauline Mercado from the Education unit of the Central Comelec warned against failure of election due to low turnout or high number of abstentions.
According to data from the Central Comelec and the Registrar’s Office, voter turnout for the past eight years averaged 61 percent or barely two-thirds of the total student population in UST. Mary Grace C. Esmaya and Bianca Kristin A. Taray
