UvA elections | Activist party wins big in Student Council elections
After a three-day extension of the voting period, the votes from the Student Council elections have been counted. The Activist Party has won substantially and is now the largest within the CSR and the Councils of Social Sciences (SS) and Humanities (FGw).
The Activist Party of - until recently - Noah Pellikaan, has won the 2024 Student Council Elections and emerges as the largest party both in the direct mandates within the Central Student Council (three out of seven seats), FGw (eight out of 12 seats), and SS (four out of six seats). Pellikaan was elected last year on behalf of the Activist Party and has been president of the CSR ever since. This year he competed on behalf of his own party, Fuck this Party, but was not elected to any council. In absolute numbers, the most number of votes went to Roza Wagenaer, list leader of the liberal The Free Student, who received 729 votes for the CSR and 54 for the council elections at Law.
Turnout
Expectations were high in terms of turnout, especially since voting was extended. During the election week of May 13th-17th, the UvA was closed for two days due to unrest, although voting could be done digitally. In return, students received - after court intervention - three extra voting days: a Friday afternoon, two days over the weekend, and Monday morning. In terms of turnout, it made a small difference.
Turnout rates do seem to be gradually going up slightly, with the Politics, Psychology, Law & Economics (PPLE) program at the top with a whopping 57.6% turnout. Unprecedented! Perhaps the community feel of PPLE students in PPLE’s new building at Plantage Muidergracht played a role in this. By the way, the majority of PPLE students voted for party Inter, followed by the Activist Party.
Varying
At the other faculties and departments, the turnout was more or less in line with last year’s. At the CSR, the percentage was 15.8%, up from 16.1% last year. At the CSR, the seven direct mandates went to the Activist Party (3), UvASocial (2), and The Free Student (2). The other four parties that competed for a direct seat on the CSR did so in vain.
In terms of turnout, the faculties show a mixed picture compared to last year. The Faculty of Economics and Business has a turnout of 16.1% (last year: 20.8%). Attendance at the Faculty of Law also decreased: 15.8% (last year: 21.9%). The FMG is divided into four sub-districts: Social Sciences, Psychology, Communication Sciences, and Child Development & Education. The latter department did not hold elections due to a lack of candidates, but the other three departments did. Taken together, their turnout was 17.1% (17.5% last year).
The ones with increased turnout are the Faculty of Humanities with 15.4% (last year: 11.6%), as well as the FNWI: 17.8% (last year: 15.05). The Faculty of Medicine also saw a higher turnout than last year: 18.7% compared to 14.1% last year.
Acta
At the Acta Dental Faculty, no one had to show up. No elections were held because the number of candidates was equal to the number of seats in their Faculty Student Council (8), so everyone was appointed. For the residencies of the Faculty of Medicine, which is a separate constituency, elections were held, but only one party participated: MFAS Master. It therefore also occupied all three seats in the Faculty of Medicine’s Student Council, incidentally with a minimal turnout of 5.5%.
As already mentioned, the Activist Party garnered a large number of seats, namely three direct seats in the 14-member CSR. If the Faculty Councils also delegated a member of the Activist Party, the party could easily gain a relative majority in the CSR. This is not inconceivable, as the party has also won many seats on the faculties: FGw (8), SS (4), FNWI (3), and PPLE (1).
Good old UvASociaal and De Vrije Student are still riding steadily along on the election carousel and are gradually becoming the oldest student parties next to MFAS. The strongest is UvASocial, now the largest at FEB (4 seats), occupying all seats at Communication (3 seats). In the CSR, UvASocial has two seats.
Even stronger: UvASociaal is now the largest at FEB (4 seats) and occupies all seats at Communication (3 seats). In the CSR, UvASocial ends up with two seats. The Free Student is also still participating. In addition to seats in the CSR, the party has also gained seats in Humanities, Psychology, Law, and the FEB.
Specific faculty parties, which by definition only participate in faculty elections, also did well, as usual. Lief at the FNWI (8 seats), The Founding Students at Law (5 seats). Party Inter, as customary, did good business among internationals.
The CSR has 14 members and will be formed this summer. Half is made up of the direct mandates recently elected, and the other half is made up of delegates from the faculty councils, who may each delegate one member.
