BEING ONE OF the highest-recorded voter turnouts in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) elections, Nationalist Youth and Progressive Democrats (NYPD) candidate, Akiah Loveighne Agbanlog, triumphed in the #BotoBedista2024 First-Year Representative Elections over San Bigkis Party’s (SBP) Katrina Bianca Carreon as per the final and official results tallied by the San Beda Electoral Board (ELBO) last September 26.
With Agbanlog’s victory, NYPD has now won nine out of the 10 seats in the CAS Student Council (SC).
After the polls spanned for a total of eight hours, ELBO, in conjunction with Bedan Information Technology Society (BITS), recorded a voter turnout of 75.23% which accounts for 498 out of 662 CAS freshmen. Out of 498, Agbanlog garnered a total of 53.82% or 268 votes over Carreon’s 37.15% or 185 votes. Meanwhile, 9.04% (45) opted to abstain in this election. This was a stark increase from last year’s First-Year Representative Elections of 57.64%.
Given the “high voter turnout” for this year’s Year-Level Representative Elections, Rochelle Soriano, chairperson of ELBO, considered the polls a “success” given how “everyone participated in the electoral process, and everyone practiced their right to suffrage.”
However, she acknowledged the hurdles faced in the polling of votes, citing technical difficulties such as “delays when it comes to opening the system” which was a result of “few accounts of the firsts-year level representatives from the ICTC” that were not registered.
But these problems were later circumvented as Soriano cites, “nagawan naman ng paraan ng ELBO and they were able to vote naman and submit their ballots on time.”
Following the official announcement of results along with her proclamation at the St. Anselm’s Hall’s, outside of the Office of the Prefect of Student Affairs, Agbanlog expressed her “shock” to The Bedan upon learning about the results, saying “[Na]gulat talaga kasi ‘di po talaga namin alam kung sino mananalo, and knowing na we are both competent leaders talaga it was very hard to tell,” while adding how she also observed that students “were having a difficult time choosing.” Nonetheless, the newly-elect first-year representative expressed her “gratitude” to the student body for the vote of trust.
With the NYPD securing another seat in the SC, Agbanlog acknowledged this feat but asserted that “Hindi siya nagmmatter kasi ‘yung Student Council wala pong political party ‘yan. We’re just here to serve the people and that’s it.”
As the newly elected First-Year Representative, Agbanlog is setting sights on fulfilling her plans and platforms for her fellow freshmen. “Looking forward po talaga na matupad lahat ng projects and platforms first and foremost,” and “na maging family talaga kami sa first-year level,” she promised.