The local College of Science electoral party, MATTER, swept the College of Science Student Council (CSSC) Elections held last April 11.
Uncontested, CSSC Chairperson-elect Hannah Mae Sucgang and Councilors-elect Abigail Ablang, Karen Carvajal, Jehtroi Mendoza, Micko Palma, Sam Suico, and Indi Zafe secured their positions by comfortable margins over abstention votes.
For the sole contested position, CS Representative to the University Student Council (USC), MATTER’s Iza Dolores won over KAISA UP’s Mike Cabotage by 119 votes.
The party’s Institute Representative bets Joy Nadua for Biology, Kim Somera for Chemistry, Hans Mingala for Mathematics, Hallizha Bagacina for Geology, Marco Dildig for Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, and Ja Ordoño for Physics also secured their respective positions.
While MATTER initially fielded a candidate for the Vice-Chairperson position, the candidacy was rejected by the local College Student Electoral Board (CSEB) due to academic standing.
The local elections faced a few setbacks over the course of the day. An issue with the online ballot concerning the voting options for the institute representatives was reported by students on the morning of the election day. The CSEB decided to implement manual voting for the institute representatives to avoid having to hold special elections.
Another problem arose during the tallying of votes, where a discrepancy between online ballots, distributed voter passwords and manual ballot box votes was observed. Arising from this discrepancy, votes for two of the six Institute Representatives, Mingala and Ordoño, were affected as the missing votes could make or break their election into position. After internal deliberation, the CSEB announced on April 12 that the two representatives will still be elected into position.
Out of the College of Science’s total population of 2251 students, 819 (based on the online tally) turned up to vote this year. This puts the voter turnout percentage at 36.39%, up from last year’s 34%. #
