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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In each and every organization, a leader always exists in order to

head and guide its members in achieving the groups aim and goals. A

leader plays a significant role in maintaining the order within its

organization. Leaders must be well-chosen because they represent the

whole members of the organization.

In most cases, election is the main mode of choosing leaders.

Election is the act in which a party casts their votes

to elect an individual for some type of position. Elections may involve a

public or private vote depending on the position

(http://www.businessdictionary.com). Election is the selection of one

man from among several candidates to discharge certain duties in a

state, corporation, or society

(http://thelawdictionary.org/election/). This is observed in large entities

such as national/local government units and corporations, and in micro

scale organizations like a student council government. In pursuant of the

election, electoral processes are observed.

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In schools, most especially in different universities and colleges,

election of leaders in Student Government, Supreme Student Council,

etc., is also an important event. It is the time the students is given a

power to nor just suggest but to choose whoever they wanted to speak on

behalf of them (http://www.webgeekresources.com/projects/16-student-

council-election system). As stated by Rivera (2013), it has been the

tradition in every school or university to conduct an election annually.

The electoral process will determine the student leaders who will serve

the school for an academic year

(http://www.studymode.com/essays/Effectiveness-Of-Supreme-Student-

Council-As-1630265.html).

In some of the schools in Cameroon namely CBC Bali and Sasse

College, their role and how they are run has evolved differently in school,

but there are aspects of running schools where students can and do

participate and contribute to decision making. Having government,

elections and citizenship education in school is part of the education

provided to each of the students.

Different colleges and universities, like University of the

Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University,

University of Santo Tomas, are conducting elections annually for their

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student council. Their student council elections are guided by an election

code formulated by different bodies.

In Saint Louis College of City of San Fernando, La Union, electoral

processes are also observed in conducting the College Student Council

Election. Part of the basis of the electoral processes is the College

Student Council Constitution. In line with the College Student Council

Election, Chapter VI of the Constitution of the College Student Council

states the qualifications of the executive council in the position of

President, Vice-President, Secretary, PROs, Treasures, Auditor, Campus

Youth Minister, Departmental Governors and Year Level Mayors.

Moreover, Chapter VII of the Constitution of the College Student Council

recognizes the manner of election. Despite of this basis, some part of the

electoral practices have no legal basis. The observed electoral practices

have become a tradition annually in conducting the CSC election from

filling of the candidacy, campaign period, the election day, canvassing of

votes and the proclamation of winners.

However, in observance of the traditional electoral processes, there

were issues on CSC elections that had occurred in the past years.

The first issue is the posting of posters, tarpaulins and other

campaign materials of the candidates on the precint and polling place

while the College Student Election is going on. This act is a strategic way
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of campaigning. However, this is prohibited due to the fact that it can

influence the mindset of the voters of who will they vote.

Second is the campaigning done by the assigned officers on the

precint and polling place during the College Student Council (CSC)

Election. This issue became known and popular not only in the school

campus but also on the media world. Several students also noticed that

some officers were having a secret campaign on the precint and polling

place. Students shared their views and opinions regarding to this issue

and polling place. Students shared their views and opinions regarding to

this issue on the social media. However, there were no formal complaints

filed by the students in order to fully resolve this issue.

Moreover, there was a misinterpretation on the identity of students

who were doing a secret campaign if the students doing this act is an

officer or an ordinary student. The second issue was not resolve because

there is no certain provision on the student handbook that gives penalty

to the one who commit an offense. In addition, a request was also

proposed that those students who will be having a field trip at the day of

election shall be given the chance to vote in order to practice their

students rights. This request contributed to the delay of the result on

the position of College Student Council (CSC) Secretary. However, this

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proposal was now adopted on the recent College Student Council (CSC)

Election.

An analysis of the issues cited reflects the following regulations

that govern the conduct of elections is as important as the actual election

itself. That is why election code is encouraged to be crafted to set

standards and guidelines for the College Student Council Election to fully

address these seem to be violations and to formally set the processes

need to be observed in conducting the election. Specifically, this study

aims at determining the ideal and the actual practices observed during

the College Student Council Election, if there is a significant deference

among them, its gap analysis and to propose a CSC Election Code as a

source of guidelines and standards in the proper conduct during CSC

election.

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on the following theories:

Kant's Moral Theory(1951) states that actions are morally right in

virtue of their motives, which must derive more from duty than from

inclination. (http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5i.htm). In relation to

this, candidates must not be self- centered rather they must be

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passionate to serve the people with utmost responsibility and integrity.

This means that the actions of the students and the representatives of

Saint Louis College must be in conformity with the Constitution and by

Laws of the institution. They are governed based on

Social Choice Theory by Arrows (1951) states that individual

preferences are aggregated to produce a social welfare function -

essentially a preference ranking of the scenarios that are possible to

society. It is the philosophical and mathematical study of the type of

conclusions that can determined through various aggregation methods.

It is related to this study because it basically provides that there is a

need for the students to be concerned with the standards and

regulations observed by the school before and during the electoral period.

Furthermore, it establishes that an individuals choice is a significant

factor that can affect the entirety of the result of the election period.

Schumpeters (1942) Classical Doctrine of Democracy, defines the

classical doctrine of democracy as follows: "the democratic method is

that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions which

realizes the common good

by making the people itself decide issues through the election of

individuals who are to assemble in order to carry out its will.

(http://internationalpoliticaltheory.blogspot.com/2011/11/joseph-
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schumpeter-on-democracy.html). This theory provides the importance of

having democracy as part of binding the people and its representatives

for the promotion of welfare. In relation to this study, students should

participate in the aim of the institutions through suffrage and also

students should follow the common practices during electoral process to

avoid interruptions and to have transparency with in the results of the

election. This means that students participation has an impact in the

smooth flow of the electoral process.

Positive Theory by Riker (1962) is the study of political processes

by using logical or mathematical reasoning to deduce conclusions about

political behavior and outcomes from precise initial assumptions about

political actors' preferences, information, and opportunities. You will

encounter three important examples of positive theory in many political

science courses-not only courses in the positive theory field. First, there

is a well-developed positive theory of voting and elections. This theory is

used to analyze the strategies candidates use to gain victory, based on

voters' preferences about the results of government policies. The same

theory is often used to understand how legislators vote on bills. Second,

the positive theory of collective action is often used to understand the

problems involved in getting people with different individual goals to

work together toward a common goal. Third, the positive theory of social
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choice is concerned with problems inherent in creating democratic

processes for influencing government policies when public opinion about

those policies is mixed. Courses in positive theory focus on how this sort

of formal reasoning works, no matter what the particular political

situation, and teach you how to use positive theory to draw extremely

important, general lessons about politics across a wide variety of

situations.(https://www.rochester.edu/college/psc/courses/courses_by_

field.php).

In relation to this, the study is associated to this theory since it is

focus on the behavior of the candidates themselves and the students as

voters to further conduct a more transparent election. This means that it

is based on the preference of the voter whether if it will think logically or

the other way around to minimize dilemmas and to determine if it really

contributes to the institution. Therefore, the student voters of SLC must

be able to adjust readily to different conditions based on their social

choice.

Differential Social Organization Theory is sometimes referred to as

social disorganization. There is social disorganization when there is

breakdown and changes, conflict of values between the new and old,

when there is condensed influence of the social institutions over

behavior; and when there is declining influence of a solid moral and

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ethical front. Some individuals accordingly break through the lines of

social control, and society has difficulty in maintaining social order.

There is social disorganization when there is lack of well-defined

regulation to behavior, a breakdown of rules and the absence of definite

role for the adolescence to play. (Guevara and Bautista, 2013).

(http://smallbusiness.chron.com/-differential-social-organization-

theory-80169.html). In relation to this, students of Saint Louis College

must observe the set of rules and regulations that are practiced in the

school during the electoral period to prevent conflict. This means that the

students should also be an abiding individual to have social control

within matters that concern them especially in having peace and order

within the school premises. Therefore, there is really a need on the

standards and regulations practices on the election process.

The theories discussed above explained the importance and

rationale of having CSC elections practices and insights. Furthermore,

the theories also provide the researchers guidelines of conducting CSC

Elections.

Conceptual Framework

Democracy always results to elections as a mechanism by

excellence for decision making. Uwagboe (2009) opined that elections are
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the means by which the people choose and exercise some degree of

control over their representatives. It is a formal decision-making process

by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. The

nature of democracy is that elected officials are accountable to the

people, and they must return to the voters at prescribed intervals to seek

their mandate to continue in office.

For this reason, when elections are called, politicians and

supporters will begin to oil the political machines in other to influence

policy by competing directly for the votes of the electorates in what are

called campaigns.

This view is based on the fact that election and democracy

are inextricable linked. Princeton (2005) revealed that Whatever else is

essential to make democracy effective and sustainable, elections are the

lifeblood of the system, the constant affirmation of legitimacy for its

leaders and the bond that links the leaders with the people.

Election is an act of choosing or selecting candidates who

will represent the people of a country in the parliament and in other

positions of the government. Elections are highly organized channel of

popular expression (Aderibigbe, 2006). The meaning of this lies in the

fact that it is through the system of elections the people express their

wishes.
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Election is perceived and managed as a process and not as

one off event that happens only on a given day or over a limited number

of days. It is rather a process, known as electoral process or electoral

cycle which can evolve in a continuous manner almost without

interruption between two elections (Hounkpe and Gueye, 2010). The

electoral cycle can be divided into three phase, namely, pre-electoral

phase, electoral phase and post-electoral phase.

The pre-electoral phase is the period stretching from the

start of actual preparations for holding forthcoming elections to the end

of the electoral campaign. This phase is essentially devoted to

preparatory activities and execution of tasks directly linked in

preparation for immediately due elections. These include for example, the

amendment of the legal framework, training of electoral agents,

sensitization of citizens, compilation and updating of the voters register,

electoral campaign, etc. In school setting, this phase includes the filling

of candidacy, formation of parties and electoral campaign.

In electoral phase, also known as the election period, this is

the phase which includes all operations leading to the casting of votes by

voters and ends with the closure of polling stations. In conducting an

election in school setting, the election phase starts at the time the voting

phase is now open. The voting of candidates is conducted either by ballot

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voting or by automated election. The voters are required to go in the

polling precints to officially include there votes. The students are given

one day to vote for their desired candidates.

The post-electoral phase is the period between the closing of

polling stations or at the end of the electoral period and the declaration

of the final election results, after all electoral disputes are settled. It

includes, depending on the specificities of each country, operations such

as the collation of results, declaration of provisional results, resolution of

electoral disputes and declaration of final results.

The division of the electoral cycle into phases always has

some arbitrariness. In fact, the demarcation line between the various

phases stated above could be shifted without compromising the

relevance of the analyses made here. Each phase can be extended

depending on the activities and tasks one decides to include and

activities under one phase can be implemented in another phase

depending on the circumstances specificities of each country.

Elections, or too be more precise, an electoral process has a

number of specificities which make them a potential source of conflict. In

fact, this involves a number of arrangements necessary for the

organization of elections but their implementation may have political

implications to which political stakeholders and citizens are very

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sensitive. The said arrangements are mostly related to the necessary

measures that need to be taken to improve the chances of organizing

free, fair, transparent and sufficiently inclusive elections.

Aside being and probably because it is a process, an election

requires an adequate legal framework that will ensure that they are

managed in a credible and appropriate manner and conducted only

within in this framework. The content of this framework varies depending

on the legal specificities and traditions of each country. Generally, the

electoral legal framework includes at least the constitutional provisions

on the management of elections and electoral laws or code.

To govern in this kind of system, people need appropriate

mechanisms for the selection of their representatives who will be

responsible for governing on behalf and for the people.

Elections, when they are not managed quite satisfactorily, can

endanger the democratization process they are intended to serve. When

the management of the electoral process or the electoral process itself is

of dubious quality, this can lead to instability or even threaten the entire

democratization process. When the electoral system is not well conceived

and the conduct of elections is partial and bias, this can pave the way for

deeper ethnic and regional divisions, lost of legitimacy of elected

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authorities, protest, violence contestation, social explosion, doubt about

institutions and result in violence.

Hounkpe and Gueye (2010) recognize that the gaps in the conduct

of electoral process can pose a threat or serve as a pretext for some key

players to jeopardize the democratization process through all sort of

means, illegal means in particular.

To avoid recurrence of these lapses, it is necessary to deepen the

knowledge of major peculiarities of any electoral process. Each of the

peculiarities, when poorly managed, can be a potential source of

insecurity, and a more or less serious threat to peace and violence. That

is the reason why even in school election setting, noncompliance of the

election rules, code and standards may lead to violations that may affect

the security of the electoral process.

The conceptualization is shown in Figure 1. The paradigm of the

study adopted the Input, Process and Output (IPO) model. The Input is

composed of the ideal practices and the actual practices observed in the

CSC election along the phase of electoral process: pre-election phase,

election phase and the post-election phase.

The process comprises the interview with the identified

respondents, analysis of the ideal practices in conducting the CSC

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election along the phase of electoral process: pre-election phase, election

phase and the post-election phase. It also consists of the actual practices

observed during CSC election along the phases of electoral process, its

strengths and weaknesses and the formulation and the validation of the

CSC Election Code.

The Output is a validated CSC Election Code to enhance and

improve the electoral processes of the CSC Election and to set standards

and guidelines to fully address the seem to be violations

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Figure1. Research Paradigm

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

I. Interview with the

respondents
I. Ideal Practices in
conducting the II. Analysis and
CSC Election Interpretation of:
along:
1. Ideal Practices in
a. Pre-election conducting the CSC
Phase Election along:

b. Election Phase a. Pre-election Phase

c. Post-election b. Election Phase

Phase
c. Post-election Phase
II. Level of Actual A Validated
2. Level of Actual College Student
Practices in
Practices in conducting Council (CSC)
conducting the
the CSC election along Election Code for
CSC Election
the identified phases of Saint Louis
along:
electoral process c College
a. Pre-election
III. Strengths and
Phase
Weaknesses of Actual
b. Election Phase Practices in conducting
the CSC Election along
c. Post-election the identified phases.
Phase
IV. Formulation and
validation of the College
Student Council (CSC)
Election Code
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Statement of the Problem:

This study aims to determine the ideal practices and to assess the

level of actual practices observed in conducting the CSC election with the

end view of formulating an Election Code for a guide on the CSC election.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the ideal practices in conducting the CSC election

along:

A. Pre-election Phase;

B. Election Phase; and

C. Post-election Phase?

2. What is the level of actual practices observed in conducting the

CSC election along the identified phases of electoral process?

3. What are the strengths and weakness of the actual practices in

conducting the CSC election along the identified phases of election?

4. What Election Code can be proposed to enhance the electoral

process of CSC Election?

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Assumptions

The researchers will be guided by these assumptions in conducting

the study.

1. The ideal practices in conducting the CSC election are needed to be

observed and practiced.

2. The level of actual practices in conducting the CSC election if high.

3. All of the actual practices in conducting the CSC election along the

given phases are considered as strong points.

Importance of the study

This study is beneficial to the following:

The College Student Council, the study will serve as guide for them

in conducting the procedures of the CSC election. This will allow them to

be familiar of their duties and functions as being one of the organizing

committee of the CSC election. This is to help them know the

preparations that are need to be accomplished before the period of CSC

election starts. This will help them to disseminate the tasks and

functions of other persons involved in conducting the CSC election.

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The Student Affairs Office, the study would help them monitor the

behavior and actions of the persons involved in conducting the CSC

election if there action is in accordance to the laws of the institution. It

will serve as a guide in assessing the persons act if it is lawful or not and

determine the treatment for cases accumulated regarding election

matters.

The students, it will provide them knowledge of the proper conduct

and procedures of the CSC election. This study will serve as a reminder

of them that they play a very vital role on the election process in which

they serve student voters and as observers as well if the procedures are

well implemented and observed and to avoid misconduct during the CSC

election.

The Political Science students, the study will help the

undergraduate students to acquire knowledge while gaining political

insight on the prevailing issues that concerns the community. This will

not only enhance the rational and critical thinking of them as political

scientists but also in their aspect as students and citizens.

The researchers, the study will help them develop and

enhance their knowledge on research while providing instructions of

their fields of specialization. This study may also provide them

opportunity to broaden their understanding in conducting an election.

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The future researchers, who may be interested in conducting

related study, this may aid as their reference or guide. The concepts and

arguments confined as stated may probably be a part of their study.

Definition of Terms

The following significant terms are defined operationally.

Election. This refers to an act of choosing the student leaders

among the candidates from different parties who will be part of the

executive body and who will serve the school for an academic year.

Ideal Practices. This term refers to the standard practices and

procedures that are needed and expected to be observe in conducting the

CSC election as perceive by the respondents.

Actual Practices. This term refers to the traditional or customary

practices that are observe annually during the CSC election. These

practices are based on the observations of the respondents on the past

CSC elections.

Electoral Process. This term refers to the steps and procedures

that are based on a certain code which are observe in conducting an

election.
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Pre-election Phase. This refers to the first phase of electoral

process which includes the filling of candidacy, formation of parties and

the campaign period.

Election Phase. This is also known as the election period. This

refers to the second phase of electoral process which includes all

operations leading to the casting of votes by voters and ends with the

closure of polling stations. This is the phase where in the voters can now

vote among the candidates. It usually starts at 8:00 AM and will end at

5:30 PM.

Post-election Phase. This refers to the last phase of electoral

process between the closing of polling stations or at the end of the

electoral period and the declaration of the final election results. This

period includes the closing of polling stations, counting of votes, collation

of results, declaration of provisional results, resolution of electoral

disputes and declaration of final results.

Strengths. This refers to the strong points in terms of the actual

practices in conducting the CSC election.

Weaknesses. This refers to the poor aspects in terms of the actual

practices in conducting the CSC election.

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Election Code. This refers to the output of this study which

specifies rules of conduct, guidelines and procedures that are codified

within a document to serve as a guide of conducting the CSC election.