Independent candidate tries to break SDM deadlock on KSU

By Stefan Paul Galea

The Kunsill Studenti Universitarji (KSU), the University Of Malta’s student body, host on Thursday elections for their council which… will only elect one contested role.

With just the Christian-democrat student body SDM (Studenti Demokritjani Maltin) running on all posts uncontested, the only election to take place will be between independent candidate Nicholas Martinelli and SDM’s Harley Mallia, for the role of culture and entertainment officer.

The student council’s presence on campus is marked by the numerous events in which it promotes student activism, but its elections remain notorious for the lack of interest and general apathy it instills in students.

Over the years elections have been taking place between candidates from rival political organisations SDM and Pulse. In the past, some of their student activists went on to join the youth ranks of political parties, which tends to grant SDM and Pulse a loose association with the Nationalist and Labour parties, respectively. Both presidents of SDM and Pulse, Gabriel Micallef and Ayrton Mifsud, however deny any such association.

It is the second year that Pulse is refusing to run in the KSU election, which is dominated by a first-past-the-post system for each individual post – a system that favours bloc-voting, and ignores the votes for candidates who fail to get elected.

While SDM has historically dominated the council elections, their refusal to contest has now left the way open for SDM to take up an extended sojourn inside the KSU.

But an election is still set to take place tomorrow, following a nomination submitted by independent candidate Nicholas Martinelli – affectionately known on campus as ‘Chunky’. It has been years since an independent candidate decided to contest for a KSU election, with attempts by other organisations like Reach failing to break the SDM deadlock.

“If elected, I would seek to maintain KSU’s credibility and standard, through a holistic approach which incorporates more sports activities and mental health workshops,” Martinelli, 23, a student of marketing and management says.

Martinelli said his experience in the University futsal team showed him there is more potential in having a stronger sports agenda, and that integrating the arts into university culture would give more credit to the numerous talented students on campus. “My dream is to once again see students feel comfortable at University during their years, and to feel part of the community this institution provides.” Martinelli said.

Harley Mallia, 23, a second-year social policy, said “it is her duty” to see to the implementation of the proposals in the SDM manifesto and improve the events that KSU has held on a yearly basis such as Students Fest. “Holding constant dialogue and communication with the students on campus is crucial in order to create further initiatives.”

Mallia and Martinelli have been heavily campaigning during the past few days, meeting students and seeking ways of further improving student life on campus.

Martinelli, the outsider of the contest, says his mission is to “encourage students who share the same passion as mine, to contest for the KSU elections even if they are not backed by the two main student political organisations.” This is strongly signified in his campaign slogan.

 “This campaign represents student activism on campus. I aspire to show students that by working hard and believing in yourself, you can achieve great things against all odds.” Martinelli said.

Asked about each other’s differences, Martinelli said, “I want to keep this election clean. I do not consider Harley as my opponent, but another candidate for the same position. I do not wish to make a distinction between me and her; we both are different people, with different experiences and knowledge.”

On her part, Mallia said, “We both have our strengths and our weaknesses. However I am confident that if given the opportunity, I will not let anyone down. I promise to keep up the good work carried out in previous years, and raise the bar where possible.”