All-time low voter turnout at the student election for the second year in the row

— It feels great to win! Everyone in the Leftist Alliance has worked really hard to profile ourselves now that the election was digital, and it is always fun to win with a good result, says first candidate for the Leftist Alliance, Elisabeth Hoksmo Olsen, to Universitas.

Thursday the 8th of April, the yearly student election at the University of Oslo (UiO) began. In this year’s election, seven student political lists fought over the 27 seats in Student Parliament. On the 14th of April, the results were made public by UiO’s Pro-Rector Gro Bjørnerud Moe in a virtual election day.

The Leftist Alliance was this year’s big winner with 27.37 percent of the votes. This gives them eight seats in next year’s Student Parliament. In second and third place are the Green List with 17.33 percent and the labour list with 15.47. The loser of the election was the Guest List with 7.30 percent.

On questions regarding why the Leftist Alliance won again, Hoksmo Olsen answers:

— I think it is because students at Blindern want a university for all: a university that focuses on environment and equality. That’s why they vote for the Leftist Alliance, because it is the only party that properly puts this on the agenda.

— What will be the most important issues for you in the coming year?

— We will continue to fight for the full-time student. This can only be made possible by reducing rent and increasing financial support. It will therefore be important to get the parliament to work on clear politics in these areas. In addition, we will work with all matters that concern making the university more environmentally friendly and equal.

All-time low turnout

In this year’s student election, 2,729 votes were cast, which gives a voter turnout of 10.54 percent. This is the lowest turnout in the last ten years.

— It didn’t go as bad as we thought it would, says Vice President and election manager Linnea Barberini.

After a year of little to no in-person teaching, frequent changes in whether the reading halls are open or not, the student leaders at UiO feared that voter turnout would be even worse.

— There are students who haven’t even seen each other, who suddenly need to engage in a digital election with candidates who they definitely haven’t met. We haven’t done a proper election campaign this year, which makes it very hard to maintain the student democracy.

— So you’re happy, despite low turnout?

— I’m relieved. You’re never really happy when voter turnout drops. But we have had challenges just like everyone else this year. So, considering the circumstances it went okay, Barberini says.

Even though the turnout was low this year, she believes that the Student Parliament has shown why it is important to have representatives. She also believes that the Student Parliament has an important job ahead when the students start returning to campus. Then you need to actively rebuild the student democracy.

— It might take two or three years, but I’m optimistic.

Happy newcomer

The Henke and Thom-list, this year’s newcomer, got 8 percent of the votes. One of their main priorities was that it should no longer be necessary to run for Student Parliament as part of a list.

Henrik Vassal, the leader, says they are very happy with the result. With their new power, the list will fight for the basement pubs, and make it easier to run student associations.

— We were unsure of how it would go, but we are very happy, this will be fun, he says.

The list is disappointed, however, over the general voter turnout. They were hoping Henke and Thom-list’s politics would attract voters who normally aren’t that invested in student politics. The newcomers got more votes than the Guest List, they got 7.3 percent of the votes this year, last year they got 13 percent.

— We both raise issues that resonates well with the students in a personal election. But I don’t think we have stolen voters from them. The Guest List does well when they have a physical presence at campus during the election campaign, so I think it’s more a result of there not being physical campaigns at the moment, Vassal says.

The Guest List: - We will continue to be a «disrupter»

With 7.3 percent of the votes, the Guest List experienced the largest drop from last year’s election, when they got 13.2 percent. Adrian Bolstad thinks the drop is related to that the list had a larger composition of members last year, and that it therefore has been more difficult to run the election campaign online this year.

— We will continue to be a «disrupter» for status quo and represent the matters we have run for election for. The focus is on mental health, the individual student, whether that is an exchange or master’s student, and reading halls being open 24/7, Bolstad says and adds:

— We noticed during yesterday’s debate that we disagree with the other lists about most things, so we will show up at the meetings, and take it from there, Bolstad concludes.

The voter turnout was the lowest it’s been in a long time. Is it problematic for the student democracy that so few students vote?

— I don’t like calling it a democratic problem, that makes it sound much more serious than it is. The students care little about the parliament, and that makes one wonder what we are actually doing. Of course, it may seem bitter of me to stand here and say this, but the fact is a voter turnout of 10 percent.

In addition to the student representatives, the Student Parliament also consists of an executive committee. The new executive committee and the new president will be elected on May 27. So far, Jørgen Skogan from the Leftist Alliance has launched his candidacy for president.