Student Group S Mock Polling Board Taken Down By University

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GE15 | A mock polling board set up by a student group at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM)’s campus was taken down by the institution’s management on Nov 8.
The polling board showcased three political coalitions - Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, and BN. Students participated in the experiment by placing stickers on the coalition of their choice.
Harapan had the most stickers, followed by BN in second with 21 stickers, and PN came last with 12 stickers.
The board was displayed on Nov 7 but was removed from the campus by the university’s management the next day.
The student group, who chose to remain anonymous, spoke with Malaysiakini about the purpose behind the polling board.
They were promoting an event about youth impact on politics in the 15th general election (GE15) to encourage students to exercise their voting rights.
“The polling board was merely a marketing strategy to strike up conversation among students,” said the group.
A photo of the experiment went viral on Twitter. Some social media users commended the students’ efforts to exercise their knowledge of politics.
No prior approval
When it was revealed that the board was removed by the university’s management, there was speculation that the poll’s results were the reason behind the removal.
However, the student group does not believe the suspicion.
“Other universities have carried out similar experiments with similar results and they have not faced the same backlash,” they said.
The group also mentioned that the results of mock polling were never the main point. They simply wanted to hear opinions from the students to be addressed at their event.
An anonymous source in UNM claimed that the official reason behind the board's removal is that there was no prior approval from the university management.
Merely days after, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) were faced with online criticism for turning away graphic artist Fahmi Reza and his Kelas Demokrasi sessions.
About 100 students who attended the session at UiTM chanted “Hidup Mahasiswa” and “Hidup Rakyat” as Fahmi was escorted out of the campus.
GE15 will see a new set of youth voters after the minimum age of voting was lowered to 18. It is also the first election after automatic voter registration was implemented.
The coming election is being treated as a new benchmark for youths to be more politically aware and seek new opportunities to educate themselves about the electoral process. - Mkini

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