Announcement after the 4th sitting of the ad hoc Commission for the 2023/2024 term on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union

01 05 2024

We would like to inform you that during the 4th sitting of the ad hoc Commission of the Students’ Parliament of the UW for the 2023/2024 term on amendments to the Regulations of the Students’ Union of the UW:

Commission continued to discuss amendments to the Electoral Regulations of the Students’ Union of the UW and other electoral regulations.

The Commission had a long and multi-faceted discussion on the method of selecting student representatives in the Electoral College of the UW, but failed to reach a common conclusion in this respect. However, a proposal to shorten the minimum deadline for submitting candidates for student electors from 14 to 7 days was unanimously approved – it was argued that the previous deadline, taking into account the practice of the University Electoral Commission to determine the number of student seats in the first half of January, meant that voting in the election fell during the inaccessible period of the winter examination session. It was also agreed, without a dissenting vote, that the Electoral Commission of the Students’ Union of the UW should not have a top-down obligation to use the USOS system for the elections to the Electoral College of the UW in the form of electronic voting and could use other appropriate electronic tools for conducting secret ballots, for example, the Ankieter system.

Later in the sitting, more extensive consideration was given to methods of voting in elections and determining election results, with particular reference to the situation where there is only one candidate in an election. The commission held several votes on whether it should be possible to cast a ‘for’, ‘against’ or ‘abstain’ vote in the case of only one candidate. As a result, such a possibility was rejected for the elections to the Residents’ Council of the dormitory and the elections of student representatives in the teaching and learning councils and unit councils, while the idea of introducing such a solution for the elections to the Council of the Students’ Union of the unit and the Students’ Parliament of the UW was referred to a circular vote, in accordance with the procedure established by the Commission for deciding on amendments that were not supported by a minimum of five members of the Commission at the sitting.

The Commission also discussed the potential establishment of an electoral threshold or a turnout threshold for elections held by the Electoral Commission of the Students’ Union of the UW. The proposal for the former threshold was not supported by the Commission, while the idea for the latter was referred to a circular vote. Participants at the sitting also discussed the rules governing ballot box voting and electronic voting. An amendment was proposed to make the second form of voting the default form of voting – it was decided to refer this idea for a circular vote. The Commission also decided to delete the provision strictly limiting the time for holding elections to teaching days only, while leaving it for the future to clarify exactly when it would be possible to hold elections.