Presided:

Armen Abelyan, President, Student Council

Attendees:

1. Sergey Arakelyan, IE1 Student, Vice-President,
2. Anush Gevorgyan, PH2 Student, Member,
3. Narine Hayrapetyan, MBA1 Student, Member,
4. Irina Baghdasaryan, MBA1 Student, Member
5. Yelena Baghdasaryan, IE1 Student, Member
6. GareginYegoryan, IE1 Student, Member

Agenda

1. Discussion of the Article XIV: Election Procedures
2. Next meeting
3. Adjourn

1. Discussion of the Article XIV: Election Procedures

Armen Abelyan read Section 1: Elections. He asked if there are any unclear points, comments or suggestions.

Garegin Yegoryan asked about the role of AUA Administration and Faculty in adopting the Student Council (SC) Amended Constitution. He said that probably it would be good idea to give them opportunity to vote for this constitution or to give their approval before the voting.

Armen said that SC Constitution should be adopted only by the Student Body of AUA, as its role is to serve for the benefit of students and to become a base that will clearly define chains of relations within the student body and between students and University Administration. He also noted that discussions of SC Amended Constitution are open for the AUA Administration and Faculty, and their advice would be taken into account and might be useful.

Sergey Arakelyan suggested to set a minimum percentage of students participated in the Elections of SC for the Elections to be valid.

Armen argued that participation in the SC Elections is usually very low and in such situation the probability of SC Elections being valid is low. However, the presence of SC is very important both for students and for the University. Moreover, the low participation of students in the elections does not mean that they are not interested in the existence of SC. Many students simply agree on any composition of SC, thus they don’t feel importance of their participation in the elections.

Anush Gevorgyan added that even if only a few students vote during elections considering elections invalid will be a violation of their rights as students that have chosen their SC.

The agreement to leave in the constitution “no minimum number of votes required for election” had been reached.

There was a discussion on the point regarding composition of the Elections Commission. To have equal weight of members appointed by SC and by Administration, it was decided that 2 members are appointed by the Administration, 2 members by the SC, and one by the mutual agreement of both SC and Administration.

Sergey asked about the feasibility of electronic voting. Armen told that the AUA Webmaster have already prepared the program that is well functioning and provides secure voting.

Armen read Section 2: Guidelines for Elections and Section 3: Campaign Policies. He asked if there are any unclear points, comments or suggestions. No discussion had been made on these sections.

Armen read Section 4: Ballot Counting. He suggested including a point regarding the process of appealing the election results and defining dates for announcements of results. The discussion was made on this point. It was decided to add a point D. The preliminary results of elections shall be announced within two working days after the close of elections.

It was also decided to add a point E. The final results of elections and the protocol of election results signed at least by three members of Elections Commission shall be made public on the seventh working day after the close of elections.

Sergey suggested to add a point, according to which protocols reflecting the election results shall be maintained after the elections. The discussion was made on this issue. It was decided to add a point F. The protocol of election results shall be kept by the Student Council Advisor and a copy of this document shall be kept in the Student Council office for five years.

Armen read Section 5: Sanctions. He asked if there are any unclear points, comments or suggestions.

Sergey suggested limiting the period when the candidate who received a complaint may speak for his/her own defence. It was decided to limit this period to two working days after a complaint was heard.

Armen read the Section 6: Protests and Appeals. He asked if there are any unclear points, comments or suggestions.
Garegin asked to clarify the meaning of quorum. Armen explained the meaning of a quorum.

Armen suggested limiting the period when the Elections Commission will accept protests and the will discuss the case. It was decided to limit the period when the protests are accepted to two working days instead of three. It was decided to limit the period when the case is discussed to three working days instead of five.

Narine Hayrapetyan suggested limiting the period when the written decision on the appeal is delivered to the University Administration and outgoing Executive Committee of the Student Council to twenty-four hours instead of forty-eight hours. Motion to accept all these changes seconded and passed.

Armen read the Section 7: Publication of Election Guidelines and Section 8: Recall. No comments or suggestion had been made on these sections.

2. Next meeting

It was decided that the finalized version of the SC Amended Constitution will be sent by E-mail to all SC members for approval, after which that version will be considered as the one that is going to be adopted. It was also decided to have no additional meeting on the discussion of SC Amended Constitution, unless tardy feedback from students raises a need for that.

3. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 2:05pm.

Minutes are submitted by Secretary, Garegin Yegoryan.