POLITICAL PARTIES Grand Alliance for Progress (GAP) and Students’ Democratic Party (SDP) demanded the Faculty of Arts and Letters Commission on Elections (AB Comelec) to declare this year’s Arts and Letters Student Council (ABSC) elections a failure due to “negligence and inefficiency” of the said poll body.
In a letter addressed to AB Comelec Chairperson Kristoffer Dela Cruz last April 26, GAP and SDP raised some irregularities in the recently-concluded ABSC elections—which Dekada dominated, winning all seven positions—and questioned the local Comelec’s credibility and integrity.
GAP and SDP said “there are students who were able to vote outside the Learning Resource Unit (LRU)” and thus requested that the votes cast outside the official voting precincts be considered null and void.
They added that some students were not able to vote “because their ballots for the local student council were already accomplished.”
The political parties also raised the discrepancy between the Educational Technology Center’s data on the total number of ballots cast and the total number of signatures affixed on AB Comelec’s class list. Students were required to sign on the class list first before proceeding to the voting area.
GAP and SDP also said in the letter that “the password provided by the AB Comelec did not change every hour to safeguard the security of the elections.”
Both political parties intend to file a complaint before the Student Welfare and Development Board, unless AB Comelec considers their request.
Dela Cruz has yet to comment on the issue but is expected to submit a written reply within five school days from the date of the receipt of the notice as provided in Article XIII, Section 5 of the UST Students’ Election Code of 2011.
Dekada chairperson Gabes Gatmaytan and STAND-UST chairperson Migs Lopez have yet to give their reactions on the issue. F – MIKKAH F. FACTOR
