Council elections are here again

Voit lukea uutisen suomeksi täältä.

There are 302 candidates standing in Trey’s council elections this autumn. In comparison to last year, the number of candidates increased by 33 candidates.  

Most of the candidates belong to some electoral alliance, which then typically belongs to some electoral circle. Some lists of candidates are politics-based, whereas others are, for example, subject or hobby association-based lists. There are only two independent candidates.  

Most lists group into electoral circles, in each of which the lists might be connected by similar values, goals, or willingness for collaboration.   

In comparison to the last elections, there are some changes in the electoral circles. The biggest electoral circle in earlier years, Tekijä, was dissolved. It included teekkari, guild, and association groups. In its stead, there are several new electoral circles into which the electoral alliances in Tekijä have split. 

The new electoral circles are Tekniikan Ratas, Punamulta and Trio. The electoral alliances that were previously in Tekijä have split almost evenly into Tekniikan Ratas and Trio. Tekniikan Ratas now includes teekkari-based electoral alliances, whereas Trio includes the other alliances, such as Hallintotieteiden liitto and MedBoomare. 

In sync with the others 

This autumn, the Council of Representatives for the 2026–2027 term is elected, meaning that the term will now last two years as it did before. The term lasted only a year the previous year because the student unions wanted to sync up their election cycles. 

In the council elections, a Council of Representatives consisting of 49 students is elected. The Council makes decisions on the activities of the Student Union on many different levels. The Council decides on the Student Union’s policies and matters closely related to students’ day-to-day lives, such as member services and the Student Union’s membership fee.  

Decisions and statements are made on both internationally relevant topics and matters related to national student politics. For example, at the end of September, the Council of Representatives approved the Trey for Palestine initiative, and thus Trey will join the academic boycott of Israel. Additionally, the Council decided to, for example, remain a member of the Finnish Student Sports Federation (OLL), which is the umbrella organisation for student sports.  

It remains to be seen whether the voter turnout will increase as the number of candidates did. Last year, the voter turnout was 28.68%, which is a slight increase from the turnout of the previous year. The voter turnout has remained about the same for the entirety of Trey’s seven-year history.  

All in all, 13 student unions nationwide hold council elections. The turnout for council elections has long remained at around 30 percent in other student unions as well. 

Advance voting will take place 29–31 October, and the official election days will be 3–6 November. All council election candidates can be found at trey.fi/candidates.