Lijst Bèta loses a seat, Dé Partij may stay

On Wednesday 15 May and Thursday 16 May, 31.7% of TU Delft students voted digitally for one of the three Student Council parties. Their votes gave ORAS – the biggest party for years – an extra seat, from five to six. ORAS pinched that seat from Lijst Bèta, who will go from four seats to three in the Student Council in the new academic year. As in the 2023 elections, Dé Partij won one seat. This gives the one-person party a foothold in co-representation.

Dé Partij stood in the Student Council elections for the first time last year so is a relatively new party. Party candidate Meesters is thus ‘very happy’ with the election results. “It shows that what we are doing is valued and that we have a right to exist. We are here to stay.” Last year Meesters concentrated on making the Student Council more transparent. He regularly published the dates and minutes of the Student Council’s public meetings. “And it was in writing that other parties would not be discussed in a negative light. We scrapped this immediately.”

Running a campaign

In his re-election campaign, Meesters wanted to show that the Student Council discussed both minor and major issues, such as internationalisation and sustainability. “We dared take a position on issues like these.” In its election programme, Dé Partij argued for keeping ties with the fossil fuel industry and for setting a percentage goal for Dutch students in degree programmes through a numerus fixus. “It may shock people, but it is by taking a stand on an issue that people actually think about it and discuss it.”

‘We are the only party that dared make a statement about Gaza’

Lijst Bèta had three seats for a long time, won four in the elections of 2022 and 2023, and is now down to three again. “It is a shame that we have lost one seat, but we were able to do good things in the past with three seats,” is how Sam de Jong, the party leader, puts the election results into perspective. In their campaign, De Jong and his colleagues wanted to show that ‘Lijst Bèta does not make empty promises’. “We are proud of what we stand for. We are the only party that dared make a statement about Gaza,” De Jong says.

ORAS Chair Jelle Stap is celebrating the results with his party colleagues in the Mekelpark when Delta phones. His party is going from five to six seats. “We are celebrating as it means that ORAS is being heard and supported.” In the 2023 elections, ORAS lost one seat to Dé Partij. “We promoted our core message in our election campaign, which is that your student time is more than just studying. This worked out.”

Turnout

At 31.7%, the voter turnout was higher than in previous years, but significantly lower than in pre-Covid years.

A real shame, says Meesters. “We are still not where we should be, while our mission this year was to have the highest percentage of voters as we could. This is a job for all of us.”

ORAS’s Stap is happy with the percentage. “We should be very proud of it as if you look at Tilburg University for example, the turnout percentage was lower than last year.”

Lijst Bèta too is happy with the turnout, although De Jong does see room for improvement. His party is currently working on a Brightspace page about the Student Council. “I hope this will make the Student Council significantly more visible so that the turnout percentage next year will be a lot higher.”