University students’ council elections will take place today.

Students’ council elections at the University of Malta will take place online for the first time today, after the proposal was approved by the current student council last week.

The move is intended to reduce the “current culture of student apathy”, according to student Dario Cacopardo, who spearheaded the initiative. Noting that last year’s council elections achieved a turnout of only 20 per cent, Mr Cacopardo hoped the move away from the traditional paper ballot system would make elections at the university more accessible.

“The issue with the KSU elections was that all students had to come to the Tal-Qroqq campus to vote, with the exception of students who study at the Gozo and Valletta campuses,” he said.

He added that he was confident voter turnout would increase and hoped that more Gozitan and Erasmus students and those on placements away from the Tal-Qroqq campus would be encouraged to vote.

Mr Cacopardo admitted there was a “culture of student apathy” at the university but noted that the elections’ partisan element meant students were more likely to participate.

He said he had personally witnessed the links between the Labour and Nationalist parties and the students’ council parties. Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (SDM) and Pulse Malta, who are contesting, have repeatedly denied any links to either national political party.

There are constant rumours of both PL and PN involvement

Last week, the presidents of the two university organisations signed a declaration announcing that they had not had any involvement with the two major political parties.

However, students who spoke to the Times of Malta remained unconvinced that there were no political ties. “There are constant rumours of both PL and PN involvement in the elections, whether it was through the funding of campaigns or giving them particular attention on their respective media channels,” said one student, who spoke to the Times of Malta on the condition of anonymity.

Requests for comment from representatives of SDM and Pulse had not been answered at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, SDM said it had received a “huge number” of complaints from students who were contacted about a survey on the upcoming elections.

The party called on the Electoral Commission to look into the situation. Both SDM and Pulse denied any involvement in organising the survey.