IN the past years, the general elections for the Student Executive Council (SEC) have always been interesting. With the turn of events from the recent elections, the results become alarming now, more than ever. According to the Bedan Electoral Committee (BelCom), only 195 out of the 1,557 students from the College participated during the elections, not even meeting 50 percent of the population. As stipulated in Article 1, Section 6 of the BelCom by-laws, candidates must meet the 20 percent quota of the electorate to be elected. Due to the low voter turnout,  no SEC officer was duly elected. Hence, the candidates that ran for office were temporarily appointed as Officers-In-Charge until a new council is elected, said in a comment posted by Fritzen Albada who is one of the appointed officers.  

Since the A.Y. 2021-2022 elections, voter participation has continued to go down from 506 to 372 students during the A.Y. 2022-2023 elections. Moreover, in the previous elections, candidates vying for the positions continue to run unopposed. The last time the College had more than one candidate vying for a position was during the A.Y. 2021-2022 elections. It may seem harmless at first for students to run unopposed but it has a huge impact on the quality of student governance in the community because they have no choice but to vote between one candidate or to abstain. Moreover, this phenomenon also happens in many co-curricular organizations.

This problem does not only exist within the institution but also in other university elections in the country such as the Student Council of San Beda University (SBU) which failed to elect a President for the upcoming school year, making its position vacant as of this writing.  It also occurred in the University of the Philippines - Diliman (UPD) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The diminishing interest of students towards campus politics whether inside or outside of SBCA is an issue waiting to be resolved. 

They say that participating in school-wide elections and exercising one’s right to vote is a reflection of how it values its community and society as a whole. With the continuous presence of low student participation among the electorate, it poses a challenge to work towards increasing the level of political discourse within the community. Without making an assessment of the College’s campus politics, raising social awareness, and creating necessary changes to the electoral process, there will always be a low voter turnout. 

To revive the diminishing interest in campus politics,  the College must work on taking proper steps to raise the level of political consciousness among the students. Whether it may be holding seminars on the importance of campus elections, extending the period for filing of candidacies, revising the electoral code, or creating a new political party to encourage students to run. At the end of the day, the awareness of students towards politics and elections will not only have an impact on the community but even on a grander scale as the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) Elections come close in a few months.   

As students await the special elections, the incoming SEC officers will be facing a huge challenge as they start their term. To raise the political awareness of the community, uphold students’ rights and welfare, and tend to the needs of its constituents, especially with the transition from the College of Arts and Sciences to the three new schools of the College. Only by having a holistic awareness of one’s community and society can they achieve what it truly means to be a Bedan student-leader.