Dear MMSA members,
The Electoral Commission for the 2018 MMSA Elections was appointed on Tuesday 13th March during the Annual General Meeting:
Chief Electoral Commissioner: Matthew Scicluna
Electoral Commissioner for 1st Years: Miguel Vella
Electoral Commissioner for 2nd Years: Jacques Galea Souchet
Electoral Commissioner for 3rd Years: Leo Valletta
Electoral Commissioner for 4th Years: Claire Attard
Electoral Commissioner for 5th Years: Matthew Pizzuto
The following link is a google folder with the Action Plans of all the candidates: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HiZfP-BJ_VXWae0vib-IE0nwD7njd2Fj
We urge you all to go through them so you can make an informed decision when you vote next week on the 22nd and 23rd of March.
Code of Election Conduct
All candidates should:
- Read and obey Bylaw 4.5 Code of Election Conduct
- Campaigning ended on 20th March 23:59pm. All material on any social media promoting any candidate must be taken down by this time.
- 21st March is a Silent Day i.e. there should be no campaigning on this day.
- Election Days are on the 22nd and 23rd of March. It is very important that on these days, there is no campaigning and candidates should not be seen anywhere near the voting areas unless they have a tutorial or they are going to vote themselves.
- No runners are allowed.
- The most important rule of all: all candidates should treat each other with respect at all times
If any of the above rules are broken, the Electoral Commission will decide on a penalty, ranging from a warning to removing the candidate’s name from the ballot paper.
Debate
This year, the debate was a bit different than in previous years.
Uncontested posts – On Monday 19th March, the EC sent a set of 3 questions (prepared by the EC) to every uncontested candidate. They were sent at 6pm and replies had to be sent by latest 8pm. The replies were then all compiled in a pdf which is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1if3PHBmjNW6Lq15NPTc1ZBXWAHoyq2mv/view?usp=sharing.
Contested posts – On Tuesday 20th March, the EC organised a debate for the 6 contested candidates and asked them the questions prepared by the EC itself. This was filmed live on Facebook from the MMSA page for all the members to view: https://www.facebook.com/mmsa.malta/videos/10155737293896107/?hc_ref=ARQQZOWUlsE5IqKG4F7DJYKdPMJ1KaO99rQRLv74b9-tYaWxL3j_R13ZSSE98Czj49Q&fref=gs&dti=276175749251144&hc_location=group
Silent Day
Silent day will take place on the 21st of March. During this day all MMSA members have a role: to reflect on the propositions of all the candidates in order to make an informed decision. Candidates were warned to not post any material related to their candidature from this day till the end of elections. This rule also applies to all MMSA members, else serious action will have to be taken.
Elections
Elections will be taking place on 2 days: Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd March. Voting on both days will be open from 9am to 4pm at Room 111 (Physiology and Biochemistry Building at University) for the pre-clinical students (first and second years) and Meeting Room 1 (Medical School) for the clinical students (third, fourth and fifth years). Remember that it is your duty to vote as MMSA members. Do not forget to bring some sort of identification with you (ID card, driving license, MDH Access card)
Counting of votes will be taking place after 4pm on Friday 23rd March at KSU Common Room.
On behalf of the EC, I would like to wish good luck to all the candidates and encourage a fair election.
Best regards,
Electoral Commission ‘18
