Considerable differences in turnout for faculty and employee council elections
Who will represent us on the university’s participation councils? The results of the 2021 university elections have been announced. New representatives will be joining many of the participation bodies at the university – the faculty councils, the employee councils and the University Council.
First and foremost congratulations and a big thanks to all those representatives who are doing their bit for the university community. We wish you all the best as you represent us. See the results of the 2021 university elections. Between 17 and 21 May our students and staff could vote for their participation councils. It is difficult to identify any clear trends. With two faculty councils the number of candidates was equal to or less than the number of available seats, so no election was held. This was the case for the faculties of Archaeology and Humanities. And the turnout for the councils that did hold elections was different to say the least.
At the Faculty of Law fewer staff members voted: 35% in 2019 and 32.2% this year. Whereas at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences the number of staff members increased: from 38.4% in 2019 to 41.5% this time. In contrast to 2019 the staff from the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs could vote online, and this was rewarded with a turnout of 59.6%. The turnout for the employee councils at Administration and Central Services (54% in 2019 and 52.9% now), Student and Educational Affairs (86.5% in 2019 and 67% now) and Leiden University Libraries (54.1 % this year, no vote in 2019) was high.
Students choose representatives for the University Council
This year it was only students who could vote for the University Council. After these elections the student section of the University Council will comprise the same six parties (LSP, PBMS, ONS, CSL, LVS and DSP). This Covid year with mostly online learning doesn’t seem to have been conducive to voting. The percentage of votes cast by students for the University Council dropped further: from 21.6% in 2019 and 18% in 2020 to 16.3% this year.