In 2011, SDM had just been through five consecutive Kunsill Studenti Junior College (KSJC) defeats, and few people could have anticipated how things would change from then onwards.
Finding the right people for both the University Executive and the Junior College sub-committee, Mark Grech managed to get four SDM candidates: Steve Zammit Lupi, Jeanette Gillard, Kurt Drakard and Simon Forster, elected to the council, after an absence of six years. That year, SDM was eager to make its way into the council again, and, with runners having the right dose of thirst to win the election, SDM managed to gain the majority in a mixed council.
It was just the beginning of what is probably regarded as the most glorious era in SDM’s history. With the slogan "Flimkien Awturi t’Universita Ahjar’, the following April, SDM managed to win KSU elections by a margin of 55%, with Thomas Bugeja being elected as KSU President.
The following November, SDM contested the KSJC election with the slogan "Imagine Seven’. On the 22nd of November 2013, for the first time since 2006, SDM managed to elect all of its seven candidates in the council. SDM was on top of the game, and one year later the slogan "Make it Happen’ lead SDM to win the KSJC election again by around 300 votes. This defeat forced Pulse’s President, Matthew Zerafa, to step down.
Many attribute the success SDM was having to its branding and the use of social media. These were not only taken advantage of by SDM, but also by KSJC, which very often projected its projects and ideas through social media. KSJC specifically worked on projects which Pulse in KSJC had failed to do, such as attracting and engaging sponsors. People within SDM were triggered by the same thirst in success and a humble belief that they were able to win.
In December 2014, Luke Muscat and Wayne Sammut were elected as Presidents of SDM and Pulse respectively. The following KSU Election lead to the umpteenth KSU election, as SDM seemed to be transformed into a winning machine. Luke Muscat only stepped down after having won the 2015 KSJC election by a margin of 200 votes, when Keith Grima became the KSJC President.
Having lost by one thousand votes in the 2015 KSU election, unsurprisingly, Pulse did not contest the following KSU election in 2016.
When this year’s KSJC election began to approach, SDM started to show unusual levels of arrogance and for temporarily thought they could underestimate their opponents. Only they didn’t notice that Pulse were as thirsty for that victory as SDM were in 2012, and 34 block votes were just enough to see all of Pulse’s seven candidates being elected to the Council.
Whilst I personally believe that there were a number of small factors that, when added together, mounted to SDM’s defeat, after all the consecutive wins at both Junior College and University, everyone knew that at some point or another SDM had to experience defeat. One of the main reasons why SDM lost this election was because the same ideas and campaigns which had been used over and over again for previous campaigns lost their relevance and effectiveness.
But after suffering a defeat, each and every individual must decide whether to let that defeat shatter them or whether to be humble enough to accept the defeat and let it guide them back to winning ways, which might not be as far away as they are appearing to be at the moment.
