At the University of Ljubljana without white smoke
They were at the University of Ljubljana today (UL) Rector elections. Because, none of the three candidates – Metka Tekavcic from the Faculty of Economics UL, Irena Mlinaric Raščan from the Faculty of Pharmacy UL and the current rector Gregor Majdič from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – did not receive half of the votes, Irena Mlinarič Raščan and Gregor Majdič will compete in the second round in April.
The electronic elections were held at all 26 members and the UL Rectorate at the same time, and this year the right to vote had 43,083 voters who were distributed into three groups. 60 percent of the final result was decided by 4226 higher education teachers and scientific workers, 2421 professional and administrative and technical workers about twenty percent, and 36,436 students about a fifth. By taking into account the difficult votes, Metka Tekavčič received 20.55 percent of the applicable weights, Irena Mlinarič Raščan 32.54 percent and Gregor Majdič 46.91 percent.
Low participation between students
Participation between professors and professionals was almost 50 %, and among the students who devoted the most votes to Tekavcic, but the votes were distributed surprisingly evenly among the three candidates, did not reach ten percent. Less than 15 percent of beneficiaries voted in full.
The causes of low participation levels, especially among students, are difficult to guess, but they are probably not attributed to the apathy and apoliticality of young people. Prior to the elections, the most politically active student movements pointed to small differences between candidates, but no one was convinced by the confrontations, which made many of the most engaged consciously abstaining election.
“None of the candidates, despite the apparent differences, have problematized the processes of neoliberalization of the university, such as subordination to the market, the existence of unpaid practices and the interference of companies in the pedagogical process. Therefore, we cannot promise any of them the changes of the university that the student needs for his existence and a quality study process, « the Iskra student movement wrote before the elections.
