1

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
In every organization, a leader always exists in order to head and
guide its members in achieving the groups aims and goals. A leader
plays a significant role in maintaining the order within its organization.
Leaders need to be chosen well because they represent the whole
members of the organization.
In most cases, election is the main mode of choosing leaders.
Election

is

the act

in

which

person

casts

their

votes

to elect an individual for some types of position. Election involved a

public

or

private

vote

depending

(http://www.businessdictionary.com).
candidate

among

others

to

Election

discharge

on
is

the
the

certain

position

selection
duties

in

of
a

state, corporation, or society (http://thelawdictionary.org/election/).

Election is observed in large entities such as national/local
government units and corporations, and in micro scale organizations like

a student council government. In pursuance of the election, electoral

processes are observed.
In schools, most especially in different universities and colleges,
election of leaders for Student Government, Supreme Student Council,
and other student body is also an important event. It is the time the
students are given a power to choose whoever they want to speak on
behalf of them (http://www.webgeekresources.com/projects/16-studentcouncil-election system).

As stated by Rivera (2013), it has been the

tradition in every school or university to conduct an election annually.

The electoral process will determine the student leaders who will serve
the

school

for

an

academic

year

(http://www.studymode.com/essays/Effectiveness-Of-Supreme-StudentCouncil-As-1630265.html).
In some of the schools in Cameroon namely CBC Bali and Sasse
College, their role and how they are run has evolved differently in school,
but there are aspects of running schools where students can and do
participate and contribute to decision making. Having government,

elections and citizenship education in school is part of the education

provided to each student (www.sakerpride.com/ALMANAC2.html).
According to the students of the different universities and colleges
like University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, De La
Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, they conduct elections
annually for their student council. The student council elections are
guided by an election code formulated by different bodies.
In Saint Louis College of the City of San Fernando, La Union,
electoral processes are also observed in conducting the College Student
Council Election. Part of the basis of the electoral processes is the
College Student Council Constitution. In line with the College Student
Council Election, Chapter VI of the Constitution of the College Student
Council states the qualifications of the executive council for the position
of

President,

Vice-President,

Secretary,

PROs,

Treasures,

Auditor,

Campus Youth Minister, Departmental Governors and Year Level Mayors.

Moreover, Chapter VII of the Constitution of the College Student Council
recognizes the manner of election. Despite of the basis, some parts of the
electoral practices have no legal basis. The observed electoral practices

have evolved from tradition. However, in observance of the traditional

electoral processes, there were issues on CSC elections that had
occurred in the past years.
From the interview with the Dean of Student Affairs, the first issue
was the posting of posters, tarpaulins and other campaign materials of
the candidates in the precinct and polling place while the College
Student Election was going on. This act was a strategic way of
campaigning. However, this is prohibited due to the fact that it can
influence the mindset of the voters of whom they will vote.
Second was the campaigning done by the assigned officers on the
precinct and polling place during the College Student Council Election.
This issue became known and popular not only in the school campus but
also on the social media. Several students also noticed that some officers
were having a secret campaign on the precinct and polling place.
Moreover, the identity of students who were doing a secret
campaign were unidentified if the students doing the act were officers or
the students themselves. The second issue was not resolved because
there is no provision on the student handbook that gives penalty to the

violators. In addition, a request was also proposed that those students

who will be having a field trip at the day of election shall be given the
chance to vote in order to practice their students rights. This request
contributed to the delay of the result on the position of CSC Secretary.
This proposal was adopted on the recent College Student Council (CSC)
Election.
An analysis of the issues cited reflects that regulations governing
the conduct of elections is as important as the actual election itself. That
is why the election code is to be crafted to set standards and guidelines
for the College Student Council Election to fully address these seem to
be violations and to formally set the processes needed to be observed in
conducting the election. Specifically, this study aims to determine the
ideal practices, its level of actual practice, its strengths and weaknesses
to serve as a basis to propose a CSC Election Code as a source of
guidelines and standards in the proper conduct of CSC election.
Theoretical Framework
The following theories provided the foundations for the study.

Kings Theory of Election (1702) states that election is a moral

responsibility of every agent to achieve good or desirable objects. This
means every individual has the obligation to vote the right leaders that
will lead and head the community in order to have a good and systematic
government or community. In relation to this, in order to have an
effective student council, students must vote the deserving candidates
whom they think may possess the values and attitudes of being a good
leader. Students need to choose carefully among the candidates. The
future of the student council depends on the result of election.
According to Meier (2001), Developmental democracy assumes the
best of the society. Under this theory, citizens are engaged and focused
on what is best for society as a whole. As citizens become involved in the
government, they acquire an understanding and appreciation of what is
needed to be improved in the community. This theory also acknowledges
the need of having elected officials and the people are responsible for the
selection of these officials. In relation to this, students are responsible of
electing the officers that will make the student council more active.

Kant's Moral Theory (1951) states that actions are morally right in
virtue of their motives, which must derive more from duty than from
inclination. (http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/5i.htm). In relation to
this, the duties of the electoral body is based on the institutional policies
and these policies are considered right and legal because the motive of
these duties is to achieve a smooth and safe election. This means that
the actions of the students and other person involved in conducting the
CSC election must be in conformity with the Constitution and by Laws of
the institution.
Schumpeters (1942) Classical Doctrine of Democracy, defines the
classical doctrine of democracy as follows: the democratic method is
that institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions which
realizes the common good by making the people itself decide issues
through the election of individuals who are to assemble in order to carry
out its will (http://internationalpoliticaltheory.blogspot.com/2011/11
joseph-schumpeter-ondemocracy.html).

This

theory

provides

the

importance of having democracy as part of binding the people and its

representatives for the promotion of welfare. In relation to this study,
students should practice their right to vote as a participatory action

because election is considered as a student activity wherein theres a

need for students involvement.
Differential Social Organization Theory state that some individuals
accordingly break through the lines of social control, and society has
difficulty in maintaining social order. There is social disorganization
when there is lack of well-defined regulation to behavior, a breakdown of
rules and the absence of definite role for the adolescence to play.
(Guevara and Bautista, 2013). In relation to this, some students failed to
comply on the policies and regulations during the conduct of election due
to different reasons. The CSC Election must have a set of rules and
regulations that are need to be practiced during the electoral period to
prevent conflict and to determine if the action of a student is considered
as violation or not. The students should also be an abiding individual to
have social control within matters that concern them especially in having
peace and order within the school premises, especially in having a
smooth flow of elections. Therefore, there is really a need on the
standards and regulations practices on the election process.
The theories discussed above explained the importance and
rationale of having CSC elections practices and insights. Furthermore,

the theories also provide the researchers guidelines of conducting CSC

Elections.
Conceptual Framework
Democracy always results on elections as a mechanism by
excellence for decision making. Uwagboe (2009) opined that elections are
the means by which the people choose and exercise some degree of
control over their representatives. It is a formal decision-making process
by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. The
nature of democracy is that elected officials are accountable to the
people, and they must return to the voters at prescribed intervals to seek
their mandate to continue in office.
For this reason, when elections are called, politicians and
supporters will begin to oil the political machines in other to influence
policy by competing directly for the votes of the electorates in what are
called campaigns.
This view is based on the fact that election and democracy are
inextricable linked. Princeton (2005) revealed that whatever else is
essential to make democracy effective and sustainable, elections are the

10

lifeblood of the system, the constant affirmation of legitimacy for its

leaders and the bond that links the leaders with the people.
Election is an act of choosing or selecting candidates who will
represent the people of a country in the parliament and in other
positions of the government. Elections are highly organized channel of
popular expression (Aderibigbe, 2006). The meaning of this lies in the
fact that it is through the system of elections the people express their
wishes.
Election is perceived and managed as a process and not as one
event that happens only on a given day or over a limited number of days.
It is rather a process, known as electoral process or electoral cycle which
can evolve in a continuous manner almost without interruption between
two elections (Hounkpe and Gueye, 2010). The electoral cycle can be
divided into three phases, namely, pre-election phase, election phase and
post-election phase.
The pre-election phase is the period stretching from the start of
actual preparations for holding forthcoming elections to the end of the
electoral campaign. This phase is essentially devoted to preparatory

11

activities and execution of tasks directly linked in preparation for

immediately due elections. These include for example, the amendment of
the legal framework, training of electoral agents, sensitization of citizens,
compilation and updating of the voters register, electoral campaign, and
others.
In election phase, also known as the election period, this is the
phase which includes all operations leading to the casting of votes by
voters and ends with the closure of polling stations.
The post-election phase is the period between the closing of polling
stations or at the end of the electoral period and the declaration of the
final election results, after all electoral disputes are settled. It includes,
depending on the specificities of each country, operations such as the
collation of results, declaration of provisional results, resolution of
electoral disputes and declaration of final results.
In College Student Council election of Saint Louis College, the
three phases are also observed and followed. Pre-election phase starts
with the period of filling of candidacy, formation of parties, campaign
period, and ends with Miting de Avance. The election phase starts at the

12

time the voting phase is now open. The voting of candidates is conducted
either by ballot voting or by automated election. The voters are required
to go in the polling precincts to officially include there votes. The
students are given one day to vote for their desired candidates. The phase
ends at the time the polling stations are declared closed. In post-election
phase, it starts with the canvassing of votes and ends with the
declaration of the elected candidates. The practices along the three
phases are in accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines wherein the
protocols of the institution were considered.
The division of the electoral cycle into phases always has some
arbitrariness. In fact, the demarcation line between the various phases
could be shifted without compromising the relevance of the analyses
made here. Each phase can be extended depending on the activities and
tasks one decides to include and activities under one phase can be
implemented

in

another

phase

depending

on

the

circumstances

specificities of each country.

Elections, or too be more precise, an electoral process has a
number of specificities which make them a potential source of conflict. In

13

fact, this involves a number of arrangements necessary for the

organization of elections but their implementation may have political
implications to which political stakeholders and citizens are very
sensitive. The said arrangements are mostly related to the necessary
measures that need to be taken to improve the chances of organizing
free, fair, transparent and sufficiently inclusive elections.
Aside being and probably because it is a process, an election
requires an adequate legal framework that will ensure that they are
managed in a credible and appropriate manner and conducted only
within in this framework. The content of this framework varies depending
on the legal specificities and traditions of each country. Generally, the
electoral legal framework includes at least the constitutional provisions
on the management of elections and electoral laws or code.
To govern in this kind of system, people need appropriate
mechanisms for the selection of their representatives who will be
responsible for governing on behalf and for the people.
Elections, when they are not managed quite satisfactorily, can
endanger the democratization process they are intended to serve. When

14

the management of the electoral process or the electoral process itself is

of dubious quality, this can lead to instability or even threaten the entire
democratization process. When the electoral system is not well conceived
and the conduct of elections is partial and bias, this can pave the way for
deeper ethnic and regional divisions, lost of legitimacy of elected
authorities, protest, violence contestation, social explosion, doubt about
institutions and result in violence.
Hounkpe and Gueye (2010) recognize that the gaps in the conduct
of electoral process can pose a threat or serve as a pretext for some key
players to jeopardize the democratization process through all sort of
means, illegal means in particular.
To determine if the actions of a person are considered as violation
or illegal, an election code is crafted to serve as a guidelines in electoral
process. According to the Rediff Elections, a set of guidelines must be
laid down by the Election Committee to govern the conduct of political
parties and candidates in the run-up to an election. It also added that
the code is intended to provide a level playing field for all political parties,
to keep the campaign fair and healthy, to avoid clashes and conflicts

15

between

parties

and

to

ensure

peace

and

order

(http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/mar/04elec.html).
To avoid recurrence of the election lapses, it is necessary to deepen
the knowledge of major peculiarities of any electoral process. Each of the
peculiarities, when poorly managed, can be a potential source of
insecurity, and a more or less serious threat to peace and violence. That
is the reason why even in school election setting, noncompliance of the
election rules, code and standards may lead to violations that may affect
the security of the electoral process. To achieve the main purpose of the
election code, the election body must always make sure that the persons
involved are complying and following on the regulations on the conduct of
election.
The conceptualization is shown in Figure 1. The paradigm of the
study adopted the Input, Process and Output (IPO) model. The Input is
composed of the extent of need of the ideal practices and the level of
actual practices in conducting the CSC election in accordance with the
CSC Election Guidelines along the phase of electoral process: preelection phase, election phase and the post-election phase.

16

The

process

comprises

the

interview

with

the

identified

respondents, analysis of the extent of need of the ideal practices in

conducting the CSC election along the phase of electoral process: preelection phase, election phase and the post-election phase. It also
consists of the level of actual practices in conducting the CSC election
I. Extent of Need of

I. Interview with the

A Validated

respondents
Studentand
the Ideal
along
thePractices
phases in
of electoral
process, its strengths and College
weaknesses
conducting the CSC

II. Analysis and

Council (CSC)

Election Code for

Election
along: and the validation of the CSC Election Code.
the
formulation
Interpretation of:
a. Pre-election Phase

Saint Louis

1. Extent of Need of the

College

The Output is a validated

CSC
Ideal Practices
in Election Code to enhance and
b. Election Phase
conducting the CSC

c. Post-election
improve
the electoral processes
the CSC Election and to set standards
Electionofalong:
Phase

a. Pre-election
Phase
and guidelines to fully address
the seem
to be violations.
II. Level of Actual
Practices in
conducting the CSC
Election in
accordance with the
CSC Election
Guidelines along:
a. Pre-election Phase
b. Election Phase
c. Post-election

b. Election Phase
c. Post-election Phase
2 Level of Actual Practices
in conducting the CSC
Election in accordance with
the CSC Election
Guidelines along the
identified phases of
electoral process
III. Identification of

Phase

Strengths and Weaknesses

of Actual Practices in
conducting the CSC
Election
accordance
with
Figure1.
The in
Research
Paradigm
the CSC Election

Guidelines along the

INPUT

identifiedPROCESS
phases.

IV. Formulation and

validation of the College
Student Council (CSC)
Election Code

OUTPUT

17

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Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to assess the extent of need of the ideal practices
and the level of actual practices in conducting the CSC election.
Specifically, it sought answer to the following questions:
1. What is the extent of need of the ideal practices in conducting
the CSC election along:
a. Pre-election Phase;
b. Election Phase; and
c. Post-election Phase?;
2. What is the level of actual practices in conducting the CSC
election in accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines along the
identified phases of electoral process?;
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses on the level of actual
practices in conducting the CSC election in accordance with the CSC
Election Guidelines along the identified phases of election?; and

19

4. What Election Code can be proposed to enhance the electoral

process of CSC Election?

Assumptions
The researchers were guided by these assumptions in conducting
the study.
1. The extent of need of the ideal practices in conducting the CSC
election is needed to be practiced.
2. The level of actual practices in conducting the CSC election in
accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines is high.
3. All of the actual practices in conducting the CSC election in
accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines along the given phases are
considered as strong points.
4. An Election Code can be proposed to enhance the level of actual
practices in conducting the CSC election.
Importance of the study

20

This study is beneficial to the following:

The study will benefit the Commission on Higher Education
(CHED) in helping them to understand the regulations and procedures of
conducting

an

election

of

the

student

body

or

other

student

organizations.
The result of the study will help the Higher Educational
Institutions in formulating their own election code in accordance with the
protocol of their institution.
The study will benefit the Saint Louis College in guiding the
members of the institution in conducting the CSC election, without
violating the protocols and living up with the institutions vision, mission
and core values.
The study will help the Administration of Saint Louis College in
formulating election policies that are in accordance with the protocol of
the institution concerning the conduct of election.
The study will help the Student Affairs Office in monitoring the
behavior and actions of the persons involved in conducting the CSC
election if their action is in accordance to the laws of the institution. It

21

will serve as a guide in assessing the persons act if it is lawful or not and
determine the treatment for cases accumulated regarding election
matters.
The study will benefit the College Student Council which will serve
as a guide in conducting the procedures of the CSC election. The election
code will allow them to be familiar on their duties and functions as being
one of the organizing committee of the CSC election. This is to help them
know the preparations that are need to be accomplished before the
period of CSC election starts.
The result of the study will help the students in increasing their
knowledge on the proper conduct and procedures of the CSC election.
This study will serve as a reminder that the students play a very vital
role on the election process in which they serve as a student voters and
as an observers as well if the procedures are well implemented and
observed and to avoid misconduct during the CSC election.
The study will help the Political Science students in acquiring
knowledge while gaining political insight on the prevailing issues that
concerns the community. This will not only enhance their rational and

22

critical thinking as political scientists but also in their role as students

and citizens.
The study will help the researchers in developing and enhancing
their knowledge on research while providing instructions of their fields of
specialization. This study may also provide them opportunity to broaden
their understanding in conducting an election.
The study will benefit the future researchers, who may be
interested in conducting related study, this may aid as their reference or
guide. The concepts and arguments confined as stated may probably be a
part of their study.
Definition of Terms
The following significant terms are defined operationally.
CSC Election. This refers to a student activity wherein students
choose student leaders from different parties to be elected on the elective
posts of the CSC Executive Body and the Year Level Mayors who will
serve the school for the next academic year.

23

Ideal Practices. This term refers to the standard practices and

procedures that are needed and expected to be observed in conducting
the CSC election as perceive by the respondents.
Actual Practices. This term refers to the practices that are
observed annually during the CSC election. These practices are in
accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines.
Extent of Need. This term refers to the degree of importance
whether the ideal practices are needed to be practiced or not.
Level of Actual Practices. This term refers to the extent of
practice on the actual practices that are observed by the respondents in
accordance with the CSC Election Guidelines. It can be identified as very
highly

practiced,

highly

practiced,

moderately

practiced,

slightly

practiced or not practiced.

Pre-election Phase. This refers to the first phase of electoral
process which includes the filling of candidacy, formation of parties and
the campaign period.

24

Election Phase. This is also known as the election period.

This refers to the second phase of electoral process which includes all
operations leading to the casting of votes by voters and ends with the
closure of polling stations. This is the phase where in the voters can now
vote among the candidates. It usually starts at 8:00 AM and will end at
5:30 PM.
Post-election Phase. This refers to the last phase of
electoral process between the closing of polling stations or at the end of
the electoral period and the declaration of the final election results. This
period includes the closing of polling stations, counting of votes, collation
of results, declaration of provisional results, resolution of electoral
disputes and declaration of final results.
Strengths. This refers to the strong points in terms of the level of
actual practices in conducting the CSC election with a mean range of
3.51 to 5.00.
Weaknesses. This refers to the poor aspects in terms of the actual
practices in conducting the CSC election with a mean range of 1.00 to
3.50.

25

Validated CSC Election Code. This refers to the output of this

study which specifies rules of conduct, guidelines and procedures that
are codified within a document to serve as a guide of conducting the CSC
election.