”I should not ask you to save democracy, but that would be nice” – Results of AYY’s Representative Council elections bring changes to group seats

Aalto University Student Union’s Representative Council elections of 2019 were held on 28 Oct−5 Nov. In the elections, the Representative Council of 45 members was elected. The Representative Council exercises the highest decision-making power in the Student Union. The Representative Council decides on the Student Union strategy, values, rules, budgets, policy papers and the budget of up to EUR 17 million in resource planning at the group level. 

There was a total of 293 candidates, representing a 7% increase over the 2017 elections. Candidates were part of 10 different electoral alliances, plus one candidate who did not belong to any electoral alliance. The polling percentage decreased slightly to 33.39% from 33.67% in the last elections.

The end of the elections was celebrated in the election coverage event with students of business at Saha. The audience waited anxiously for the results until the end, as there would be changes to the number of seats in the representative groups. AYY’s Central Election Committee, including Chair Petteri Heliste, came to present the results.

Heliste told the audience that he was particularly pleased with the rise in the number of candidates: many of Finland’s largest student unions have seen a drop in the number of candidates, while in AYY there was a slight increase in these elections. Heliste believes this reflects the broader difficulties of democracy. ”I should not ask you to save democracy, but that would be nice,” Heliste challenges the new representatives.

The winners of the Representative Council elections include the Greener Aalto group, which tripled its seats compared to the previous elections. Pro Arte and Kylterirengas also increased their seats by one.

More information:

Annika Mällinen

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