Every year in January, university elections are held at the University of Göttingen. All Göttingen students are then called upon to exercise their right to vote for various parliaments,
committees and semester tickets. There are several ballot papers to fill in, including for:
The last three points are the so-called ballots for semester tickets. The General Students' Committee (AStA) negotiates offers for this, which can then be accepted or rejected with a “yes” or
“no”. If the majority of the student body decides in favor of the respective semester ticket, it is binding for everyone.
The other ballot papers are list votes. There are several candidates per ballot paper who have joined together on different lists. All votes cast for these lists are added up at the end of the
election week and the seats in the parliaments or committees are allocated accordingly. The candidates with the most votes on a list receive a direct mandate and are then entitled to vote at the
meetings. You can find more information on the individual parliaments or committees in the section on university politics and
committee work.
Please note how many votes you have. The voting system should indicate if your vote would be considered invalid (e.g. too many crosses for a committee).
By the way: The other status groups at the university, i.e. professors, technical and administrative staff (MTV) and academic staff (so-called Mittelbau), elect their representatives at the same
time every two years.
The fact that university politics plays an important role in Göttingen is reflected in the voter turnout: At an average of around 25 percent, this is still room for improvement, but compared to
other universities in Germany, it is a top figure. So use your right to vote and vote wisely! It is not uncommon for individual votes to decide elections... Your student representatives will
thank you!
