Abstain votes dominated the chairperson and vice chairperson seats in the 2023 UP Diliman University Student Council (USC) elections, revealing a deep lack of confidence on the platform of the sole running party, UP Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (UP Alyansa).

In her second attempt for the post, UP Alyansa’s chairperson bet, Jaira del Mundo, failed to clinch the council’s top post despite being the sole candidate. She received 3,756 votes against 5,745 abstentions. Her running mate, Theresse Mangussad, was also outvoted with only 3,870 votes against 5,631 abstain.

This is UP Alyansa’s fifth year out of power. During the two-week campaign, Alyansa forefronted their advocacy for safe spaces in the university, but it was unable to forward firm plans to realize this, aside from The Sanctuary Project UP Diliman.

This year also saw a 36.7 percent ballot turnout, only 1.38 percentage points higher than last year’s elections.

The eight duly elected councilors were Beatriz Pineda (4,554), Katrina Maria Batac (4,216), Alvin James Magno (3,988), Joseph Limbaga (3,805), Charles Justin Shi (3,709), Erwin Medina (3,613), Craig Navalta (3,439), and Marc Mercene (3,371).

Not all 12 councilor posts were filled as abstention ranked ninth in the race for councilor, garnering 2,496 votes.

With the chair posts left vacant, the top two elected councilors, Pineda and Batac will act as interim chairperson and vice chairperson, respectively, until an internal election is conducted by the incoming USC, according to Vice Chancellor Louise Jashil Sonido, who is also the chairperson of the University Student Electoral Board (USEB).

“To honor the spirit of autonomous and democratic student representation in the university, vacancies in the UP Diliman USC shall hence be filled through the determination and recommendation of the duly elected councilors and college representatives in a manner consistent with the spirit of the election code and the USC constitution and by-laws, subject to the approval of the USEB after they are sworn into office,” added Sonido.

Until the first meeting of the new USC, the council will move forward with eight councilors until a full-time chairperson and vice chairperson are selected to head the body. ●