University students are gearing up for the upcoming campus election, scheduled to be held nationwide on Dec 19, in which 'anti-establishment' students are expected to maintain their dominance despite the hurdles.

Among the obstacles that may lead these students to win fewer seats or see a reduction in the number of votes, is the short campaigning period.

When contacted today, students leaders from several universities said the campaign period has been shortened from the usual one week.

Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, for example, is scheduled to hold their nomination day on Dec 16, leaving only two days for campaigning before polling starts.

A student leader from Universiti Putra Malaysia in Selangor said for them, nomination day will probably be Dec 17 since the day before that is a public holiday in the state.

If this were the case, he added, candidates would only have one day for campaigning.

Partisan politics

Campus elections, often tainted by partisan politics, never fails to make it to the limelight. The contest is usually perceived as one between 'pro-establishment' and 'anti-establishment' candidates.

Political leaders also pay great attention to the contest.

Last year, the Education Ministry imposed several new election rules which among others forbade students to contest in teams and standardised polling day for all public universities.

The ministry said this was to prevent students from helping their 'counterparts' in other campuses during the campaigning period.

Meanwhile, a student representative from UPM said the limited campaign period would have a severe effect on the 'anti-establishment' candidates.

"Actually the policy will not bring any benefit to both camps, but since 'anti-establishment' candidates depend very much on their lobbying work during the campaigning period, (the shorter campaigning period) will be a loss for these students," said the student who declined to be named.

"If only one or two days are given, it is not enough for them to explain and promote their agenda. Students will vote without understanding clearly the candidates and this will help increase votes for pro-establishment groups," he added.

Despite the strong presence of the ruling party's influence, namely from Umno Youth and Puteri Umno, he is confident that the other faction will still emerge victorious.

Another student leader from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Johor, who also requested anonymity, predicted that "irregularities" will reappear this year to curb the influence of 'anti-establishment' candidates.

Last year's election saw the 'anti-establishment' group sweep more than two-thirds of the seats in a contest besmirched by allegations of vote-tampering and other irregularities