Education Commissioner elections which were supposed to happen late yesterday evening had to be postponed due to a case of lack of communication between the KSU Executive and the Commission.
The elections in which Yacopo Baldacchino and Nico Muscat are contesting for the role of Education Commissioner have been postponed to Wednesday 24th April 2019 at 19:00hrs.
Earlier today allegations came out regarding a supposed breach in the KSU statue by incumbent Education Commissioner Jean Claude Scicluna. The allegations arose out of a situation of lack of communication, contrary to what has yet been reported regarding the issue from Scicluna’s perspective.
He explained that early Monday morning he had received an email from a student representative who wished by proxy to delegate her power to vote to another representative to vote on their behalf.
The request was denied as per provision 4.7 of the KE Standing Rules which states that a proxy should reach the Education Commissioner 24 hours prior to the meeting.
It later divulged that a total of nine proxy forms were put forward, which, however, were not going to be accepted by the KE Commission. Scicluna stated that he did not receive these proxy forms in physical format or via email 24 hours prior to the KE Election – this being the reason that he did not validate these.
Yet a number of student representatives claimed that they delivered their proxy forms to the KSU Office earlier than the deadline, during a period when Scicluna was not present at the office at the time. This is where the question of communication arose, since although the representatives had in fact submitted their proxies on time, the commissioner justifiably did not validate these as he was unaware of their submission.
In a statement issued by the Board of Discipline, they said: The board notes that there should have been clear communication between the KE Commission and KSU Executive to ensure an accessible and adequate system for the KE Commission / Scicluna to receive such forms by the set deadline to ensure its member have a right to vote and voice their opinions through their proxy.
With regards to Scicluna’s allegations of being brought in front of the Board without a 5-days notice, he was not being accused by the Board. He was brought in front of the the Board to clear the miscommunication and get the situation settled. Therefore, no statute provision was breached.
The KSU Board of Discipline has now decided to reschedule the KE Election to Wednesday 24th April 2019 at 19:00hrs.