Over 100 students apply for UJ student union candidacy

By Khetam Malkawi - Mar 09,2014 - Last updated at Mar 09,2014

AMMAN — The University of Jordan (UJ) has so far received more than 100 applications from candidates for the student union elections slated for March 27, a university official said on Sunday.

UJ Vice President Azmi Mahaftha, who heads the elections higher committee, said more than 100 applications were submitted on the first day of registration, which started on Sunday — for the 84 seats and nine lists — and will continue until Tuesday, March 11.

Under the university’s regulations, the union includes one seat allocated to each department for every 300 students, plus nine seats elected through a university-wide proportional list system.

The system allows students to cast one vote for an individual candidate from their department and another for a list at the university level, which any group with at least seven students can form.

Last year, the council of deans decided to postpone student union elections, which were scheduled to take place in December, until March this year.

One of the main reasons for the postponement of the elections was the situation in some of the country’s universities, where violent acts were reported. “We want to avoid any potential chaos,” UJ president Ekhleif Tarawneh said at the time.

“We want first-year students to be involved in the electoral process. Thus, we want to give them more time before conducting the elections,” Tarawneh added.

According to UJ, there are 11,000 first-year students, constituting 27 per cent of the total student body.

Meanwhile, Mahaftha said the university had modified one article of the poll regulations, under which any list running for the elections will be excluded if the ratio of its voters is less than 4 per cent of the total number of votes for all running lists.

At a press conference to announce arrangements for the elections, Mahaftha said only students will be allowed to enter the campus on the day of the polls.

He added that candidates’ campaigns will start on March 20 and continue until March 26.

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