New party wants to join Student Council

According to its website, Dé Partij’s main issues are: ‘doing away with the alcohol policy on campus’; ‘letting TU Delft feel the housing problems’; and, ‘upholding the TU Delft student culture’. On Instagram, Dé Partij’s students express their displeasure at TU Delft’s alcohol policy that ‘goes against the integration, inclusiveness, and social cohesion of TU Delft’. The alcohol policy bans alcohol on campus before 17:00. Spirits are banned as well.

They write that they are there for ‘the ordinary student’. They believe that the current Student Council is invisible and few know when it meets with the Executive Board. They say that this leads to the feeling that ‘students have no say’.

Broodje bal 
According to Dé Partij, ‘student life is under increasing pressure’. ‘Housing shortages, drawing lots to join student associations, an alcohol ban, and the feeling that students are not heard’, it states on Instagram. Apart from wanting to lift the alcohol ban, the party is arguing for more tutorials and working groups, cheaper food on campus, more housing for students including guaranteed housing for internationals, better communication from TU Delft, and a broodje bal (meatball bread roll) in the X café. Posters copy jargon used by Thierry Baudet of the Freedom for Democracy (FvD) political party: ‘Turn the party cartel into Dé Partij cartel’.

The electoral list of Dé Partij, Oras and Lijst Bèta for students is currently available online. Objections can be submitted before 26 April. After that, the lists are final. Oras and Lijst Bèta have formed the Student Council together for years. Oras currently has six seats and Lijst Bèta has four. Both have 30 candidates and so called ‘lijstduwers’ (literally list pushers) on their electoral lists. There are three names on the Dé Partij’s list, as stated on the website: bachelor students Koos Meesters, Jorrit Greep and Florent Appert.

It is not the first time that three parties stand in TU Delft’s Student Council elections. This was also the case in 1999 when dissatisfaction about the two parties that jointly formed the Student Council – Oras and AAG – led to the birth of Project Blauw. It won one seat on the Student Council, but after one year had to stand down for lack of successors. AAG stopped in 2008. Het Principe (‘the principle’) then came forward as the students behind it felt that there should be a choice. One year later, Het Principe disappeared and AAG returned. In 2010, AAG definitively stopped. Oras then represented the Student Council on its own. One year later, Lijst Bèta joined.

When asked, the current parties said that the news about Dé Partij is still too new for a response, even though Dé Partij’s first posters appeared in the city, such as along the Abtswoudsepad, earlier this week. The starting date for campaigning is 17 April. The response will follow. On Wednesday afternoon Dé Partij was not available for comment. As soon as there is more to report, we will do so.

• Also read: ‘Major concerns’ about low turnout for participation council elections