«Electoral Issues», final episode: student councils and the right to stand and vote

The lawyer and political activist Ahmed Abu Salah said the root of the electoral process is political participation, which expresses society members' participation in managing their affairs — and the phenomenon of student councils is among the traits of a democratic society.

This came during the eighth and final radio episode of the Electoral Issues programme, carried out by Pal-Think for Strategic Studies in cooperation with the Elections Commission on Zaman FM radio, titled “Student councils and the right to practise the process of candidacy and election” — within the activities and events of the project “Toward a society more aware of its electoral rights”, implemented by Pal-Think for Strategic Studies in cooperation with the Central Elections Commission within the project “Partnership with civil-society institutions 2021 / phase two”, funded by the European Union.

Abu Salah explained that the division and the absence of real will in the student frames are among the greatest difficulties facing student councils — although they work to build young leaderships able to take part in the general elections, and count as the protective shield of students, protecting them from the cases of unilateralism the universities use.

For his part, the young activist Izz al-Din Qouta said student councils hold abundant benefits, foremost preserving students' rights and the continuation of the educational process in a democratic manner — especially as Palestinian society holds many political parties.

He continued: “We must create a distinguished, unique university life as we had in the past, and this life is what can make an educated generation able to bear the burdens of the Palestinian cause later”.

Qouta concluded, asking: “If the student graduates from university without having practised the democratic process or party and political work, when will they practise that?”.