Pulse’s Reaction
In a statement released on Pulse’s Facebook page, the student organisation accused Studenti Demokristjani Maltin (SDM) of partisan and anti-democratic attitude.
According to this statement, today’s MCAST’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) was compelled to be suspended following constant shouting from SDM members, despite being warned otherwise.
However, SDM’s anti-democratic politics were even more exposed when SDM proposed that the vacant roles in the Kunsill Studenti Mcast (KSM) should be filled up by the "next-in-line’ system, which proposes that the vacant positions within the KSM, amounting to six in total, are to be filled up by those candidates who failed to be elected last November.
Undoubtedly, the purpose behind this stunt from SDM was to get a majority in this council. Meanwhile, the excuse of lack of time might be considered as invalid, since Pulse had already proposed other remedies during a meeting held with the MCAST principal together with other organisations.
Pulse is suggesting two proposals; the first one being to make a call with the aim of making a co-option election amongst the organsiations during Kummisjoni Politka Socjali (KPS) meeting. The second option is to make an election amongst all students to fill up the vacant positions.
Finally Pulse appeals to both the MCAST Administration and KMS to hold out a serious process to call another EGM in the upcoming days. In addition to this, Pulse hopes that SDM will respect the student’s choice and engage in discussions seriously with democratic and representative aims.
SDM’s Reaction
In light of this situation, SDM posted its own reaction to today’s EGM, pointing out the fact that this meeting is solely a student one; hence, it opposes the nomination of a lecturer as Chairman of the same meeting. It also condemns the fact that no vote of confidence was taken in the Chairman of the meeting, which is usually standard procedure.
SDM also expresses its disgust towards Pulse members’ manipulation during the same meeting who refused to allow SDM members to speak out and protested to amendments which they proposed.
With regards to Pulse’s accusations of SDM opting to be undemocratic in their proposition of the mechanism to fill vacant posts in the KSM, SDM describes its "shock’. After such an EGM, which is primarily aimed at democratically discussing possible solutions, it is Pulse members who are acting in such a prejudicial manner since students were not allowed to voice opinions.
The solution, according to SDM, is to call for a proper EGM where every student is allowed to debate and discuss. Finally, SDM advises Pulse to stop manipulating students, and it is for this reason that SDM has chosen to open its MCAST office, “to stop the bullying and manipulation campaign organised by Pulse.”
