SDM Wins KSU elections after four-year sabbatical

Malta Independent Saturday, 24 March 2007, 00:00 Last update: about 13 years ago

The Christian Democrat Students’ Association (SDM) won Thursday’s University Students’ Council (KSU) election, four years after it had stopped participating in the election.

The SDM won all 10 posts it contested, with an average of 1,311 votes per candidate, while Social Democrat organisation Pulse obtained 803 votes and independent organisation REACH obtained 718 votes.

The turnout was 26.57 per cent, a marked increase over last year’s election, when only 19.6 per cent of students cast their vote.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, SDM president Keith Galea said he was very pleased with the result, especially since SDM had also won the election for the Junior College Council (KSJC) in December. The 2006-07 scholastic year had been very successful for the SDM, he said, as it had succeeded in getting all its 17 candidates elected in both elections. Mr Galea said the results showed that SDM had not been dormant during its sabbatical.

Mr Galea thanked SDM helpers and supporters for their work during the campaign. “We work with the students for their benefit,” he said. He wished the best of luck to the new committee, which will take office on 1 June.

The SDM president thanked the other two organisations that had participated in the elections, Pulse and Reach, for their fair campaign. “This campaign should serve as a model for national election campaigns,” he remarked.

Reach’s candidate for president, Matthew Caruana said when contacted that the organisation had been expecting such a result. But Reach was disappointed by how votes coming from “the heavily polarised Junior College” had influenced the election. In such a situation, said Mr Caruana, it was very difficult for an independent organisation to win the election. This scenario, he added, did not augur well, as Maltese youths were supposed to be a fresh, driving force behind the push for a change in mentality in the country.

Attempts to contact Pulse proved futile.

The KSU will be composed as follows: president – David Herrera, secretary-general – Bernard Galea, financial officer – Benjamin Briffa, public relations officer – Mark Portelli, international officer – Matthew Agius, international coordinator – Enrica Miceli, education officer – Keith Vella, social policy coordinator – Mariella Scicluna, culture and entertainment officer – Ann Dingli, culture and entertainment coordinator – Sean Buhagiar.