By Paulynne Joyce R. dela Cruz
SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY STUDENT GOVERNMENT (SUSG) Committee on Elections (COMELEC) added policies on online campaigning, meeting de avance, and ballot distribution to improve the system of SUSG elections this year.
SUSG COMELEC Chairperson Roselle Erames said that they will finish making the Rules and Regulations for the elections with the approved budget of Php 25,000 as early as the third week of January 2016.
“We are just waiting for [the budget] to be released so we can push through with the rest of our plans,” Erames said.
One of the policies they have added for this year’s elections is online campaigning, which is in Article III Section 3 of the Rules and Regulations for the Conduct of the Feb. 24, 2016 SUSG Elections.
The online campaigning policy allows political candidates to use social media to post their campaign programs and platforms.
Aside from online campaigning, COMELEC also planned that the meeting de avance on Feb. 22 will be held earlier in the afternoon, since it usually starts and ends late in the past years.
In the meeting de avance, each political candidate shall be given 3-5 minutes to speak about their platforms as provided in Article IV Section 4 of the Rules and Regulations.
“The order in which a candidate shall speak will be determined by the COMELEC and not by raffle anymore for expediency purposes,” Erames said.
On the day of the elections, Erames said that the COMELEC will also improve the ballots for the students’ convenience and to save time and money.
“The students should expect an expedient and economical election this year. The COMELEC will try its best to reach a great majority of the student population so that a lot of students will exercise their right to vote this year,” said Erames.
The registration of the political parties ended last Jan. 26.
Meanwhile, the filing for certificate of candidacies will begin by 8 a.m. on Feb. 1 and will end on Feb. 6 by 5 p.m.~
