The by-election for the 52nd General Student Council (GSC) at Hanyang University (한양대학교 총학생회) took place between April 1st to the 3rd. The sole pair of candidates, HYLIGHT, received 32.27% of the votes, short of the 33.33% required for election. This was the first GSC election in three years where a president and vice president were not elected.
Like many universities in South Korea, Hanyang University has a students’ union that represents the school’s students. The role of the GSC is to negotiate activities, events, and policies from the perspective of the students.
According to the current GSC regulations effective December 2, 2022, the rules for the GSC election are as follows. Suffrage is given to every full member of the GSC, a full member being an undergraduate student currently enrolled at Hanyang University’s Seoul campus. Any full member who has completed 4 semesters at Hanyang University is eligible to run for election. A “camp” comprised of one presidential candidate and one vice presidential candidate must be formed to apply as a candidate.
The elections take place every November. Voters can cast their votes using an online voting platform called “Pick Me”, or offline at booths located in each college building. If there is one camp, the pair is elected if one-third of all GSC full members vote for the pair. If there are multiple candidates for each position, voters can vote for one camp or choose to abstain. The camp that receives more votes is elected, unless the number of abstentions is greater than the sum of votes going to all of the camps. The term of the president and vice president is one year, beginning on January 1 the year after the election and ending on December 31 that year. If none of the camps are elected, the GSC goes into administration under an emergency committee. This was the case for four consecutive years from 2018 to 2021, which was in the aftermath of the 2017 GSC election. At that time, controversy arose regarding the female student council using GSC funds. The GSC’s response fueled the fire, resulting in a voter boycott.
This year’s GSC election was also tumultuous. The president and vice president of the 51st GSC resigned on July 17, 2023 due to controversies regarding the president’s personal life. The GSC had been under an emergency commission since. On November 14, the GSC Election Commission, responsible for overseeing and managing the election process for the 52nd GSC, announced that one election camp, HYway, had registered for the upcoming election. However, it was revealed that another election camp, HYLIGHT, registered for candidacy, but was rejected by the Election Commission. The reason was that HYLIGHT’s petitions were submitted using multiple names (HY_LIGHT, 하이라이트, Hylight, hylight).
In response, HYLIGHT applied for an injunction at the Seoul Eastern District Court on November 20 with the purpose of suspending the GSC election. The court approved the injunction on November 24 and ordered the suspension of the GSC election, extending the emergency committee until the by-election this spring. The registered candidates for the by-election were announced on March 9, 2024. HYway did not register, making HYLIGHT, which had unsuccessfully applied for candidacy last November, the only camp taking place in the April GSC election.
HYLIGHT released several campaign pledges spanning four categories: education and career, facilities, branding, and student society. Education and career-related pledges included the expansion of e-learning for students serving in the military, an integrated bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree process, and the implementation of a credit transfer system. Pledges for the facilities included installing an LED board on the facade of Hanyang Plaza and reopening access to building rooftops. For branding, HYLIGHT promised the successful completion of school festivals, and the formation of a consultative branding group including the students, the school executives, Seongdong-gu office, and external consultants. Finally, the student society pledges included a direct school chancellor election system and installing an independent audit institution responsible for student groups including the GSC.
There were 16,216 eligible voters for the 52nd GSC election. Voter turnout was 36.72%, down from the previous year’s 44.44% and 52.36% two elections prior. A minimum of 5,406 votes agreeing upon the new president and vice president were needed for HYLIGHT to be elected. There were 5,234 “yes” votes, 172 short of the requirement. In an interview immediately after the results were announced on the evening of April 3, HYLIGHT’s candidates attributed the unsuccessful campaign to attempting to plan out the upcoming school festival simultaneously. With HYLIGHT failing to receive the votes of one-third of all the students, the 2024 school year will proceed with no GSC president nor vice president. The 52nd GSC will continue to be governed by an emergency committee until the next election this November.
myHUBS 
Leave a comment