Election for the 52nd General Student Association (GSA) was held at Konkuk University from November 26 to 28. Just like last year’s GSA election, only one party registered to run for the GSA. President candidate Kim Dong-hoe and vice president candidate Jeon Ji-woo registered with the name “SEUMULEGE”, which literally means “to the twenties” in Korean. Following the university’s statute about the GSA election, the sole candidate SEUMULEGE had to earn the approval over 50 percent of total votes in order to be elected as the new GSA. The vote counting started at 11 p.m. of November 28 after all the votes were gathered at the Prime Hall of the Student Union Building A. The counting was carried out exclusively by the Central Election Commission under the presence of SEUMULEGE and other students who wanted to participate. The results came out on Novrmber 29.
A total of 8,421 students (55.3 percent) had voted. Among them, 6,285 students (74.6 percent) voted in favor of SEUMULEGE and 1,925 (22.9 percent) students voted against them. The remaining 211 votes (2.5 percent) were regarded invalid. Following the results, SEUMULEGE was elected as the 52nd GSA of KU.
The campaign period of this year’s election started at November 12 and ended on the 25. During the period, leaflets with information regarding SEUMULEGE and their election pledges were given out. SEUMULEGE promised five big election pledges: A better student society, improvement of the university system, the guarantee of student’s “study rights”, the enhancement of project and cultural domains, the betterment of student welfare, and the improvement of facilities. The candidates also gathered student opinions by giving out postcards. Students who had any thoughts about the current university policies or how the GSA should operate wrote their opinions on the postcard and handed them back to the campaign staff. The opinion gathering continued for two days starting on November 14 and took place in front of the Student Union Building A, the Animal Science Building, and the Business Administration Building.
A public hearing was also held by The KU Media Center on November 18 on the first floor of the Student Union Building A. Representatives of the Media Center asked questions to
the president and vice president candidates of SEUMULEGE for the verification of the candidates themselves and their election pledges. Answering the questions, the two candidates of SEUMULEGE strongly emphasized the importance of transparent and effective management of the student union fees, the expansion of rights for every students
including the disabled, and being guaranteed one’s study rights.
SEUMULEGE will officially begin its term with the start of the winter vacation.
By Choi Eun-jun