FEWER bets filed their candidacies for the central and local student council executive board elections this year.
Only eight candidates will run for five positions in the Central Student Council (CSC) Executive Board.
CSC Secretary Robert Gonzales is the sole presidential bet in the April student polls after the UST Central Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualified Worship Acosta, standard-bearer of Lakas Tomasino Coalition (LTC), for his failure to submit an undisclosed requirement.
There are no candidates for vice president in the CSC this elections.
Three candidates will be contend the post of secretary. Legal management freshman Krizia Milleny Bricio (independent) will face advertising arts senior Nicholas Sia (LTC) and the sole Lakas ng Diwang Tomasino (Lakasdiwa) bet, chemistry freshman Karch Andrei Rafael.
LTC bets Rafael Lipat, a political science junior, and Patricia Claire Cruz, an accountancy freshman, will run unopposed for the positions of treasurer and auditor, respectively.
Physical therapy sophomore Ian Jericho Sun (LTC), is the sole candidate for the position of public relations officer.
The filing of candidacies for the CSC elections concluded last March 27 at the lobby of the Tan Yan Kee Student Center building.
Dearth of bets
In the local student council polls, several colleges will welcome the next academic year with an incomplete set of student leaders.
The Institute of Information and Computing Sciences, for instance, only has two candidates running for its student council, particularly for the positions of auditor and public relations officer.
In the Faculty of Civil Law Student Council, there are only three candidates for the positions of president, internal vice president and secretary.
The student polls in the Institute of Physical Education and Athletics (IPEA) will have the same number of candidates for the same positions.
The College of Nursing only has three positions with candidates. No student filed for candidacy for the positions of president, vice president, assistant secretary, assistant treasurer and auditor.
The Faculty of Engineering Student Council polls also lack candidates for external vice president and treasurer, while the College of Rehabilitation Sciences has no candidates running for internal vice president and treasurer.
The College of Science has no candidates for treasurer and assistant treasurer while in the College of Fine Arts and Design, no student ran for treasurer and auditor.
‘Same rules apply’
Comelec chief Moriah Mendiola said the electronic voting system would be retained for this year’s election, as the system was deemed “successful” last year.
There will still be no option to “Abstain,” in compliance with the order of the Central Judiciary Board in 2017.
The campaign period, which began on March 30, will run until April 21.
The proclamation of the new CSC and local student councils’ executive board officers will be on April 27. with reports from Ahmed Khan H. Cayongcat, Neil Joshua N. Servallos and Angelika V. Ortega
