SDM MCAST will be boycotting student council meetings after last week’s election for the students' representative council was marred by voting discrepancies and irregularities. The organisation said the administrative body of MCAST denied the organisation's request to have the whole election declared null and void, and restart the voting process.
This comes after the college announced on Friday that after its preliminary investigation it was annulling the elections results at institutes where "discrepancies were found during the reconciliation of registered students and votes cast." But the SDM wants the whole process to be scrapped.
SDM also announced that the organization will be exploring their legal options to combat the decision.
The student organization pointed towards the three unregistered boxes (one of which was opened) containing ballots and 40 unaccounted votes which had been counted in the election. This, they claimed, served as a clear indication that the legitimacy of any of the votes cast could not be guaranteed.
SDM candidate Glenn Mamo expressed his disappointment at the outcome of the meeting with the administrative body, saying that democracy should not allow for a group to win or lose in an unjustified manner.
Mr Mamo stressed that the elections held at MCAST should be held to same standards seen at both Junior College and University.
The group also claimed that following last week’s electoral result their banner had been destroyed and the group had experienced hostility from Pulse activists.
The election, which took place last Wednesday, saw Pulse win with eight seats on the council.
Pulse President candidate, Wayne Sammut said that “It is a complete shame that SDM wants to go for a fresh election even in institutes where votes have been perfectly accounted for. Students have voiced their opinions on the established election date and they simply want to ignore those votes. “
On the SDM’s decision to boycott the council meetings, Mr Sammut said that “a new level of arrogance had been reached by this action”.