Standing as a candidate

Commitment

Candidates who stand for election accept the responsibilities that come with a potential council seat. Students receive financial compensation, while staff members are granted time off from their regular duties.

The responsibilities vary depending on the council:

The University Council meets every Monday, with council work equating to 0.2 FTE. Faculty and Employee Councils typically meet once a month.
The workload for Faculty Council members is set at 0.1 FTE, while Employee Council members are allocated at least 60 hours per year.

For further details, please refer to the Facility Regulations of the University Council, Faculty Councils and Employee Councils.

Two systems

Employee and student participation within the university has two systems; the candidate system and the list system. In elections according to the candidate system, individual students or staff can register as candidates. Under the list system, lists (parties) can register with multiple candidates.

You can read below which system applies to your participation body and how the candidacy takes place. The candidacy can only take place during a certain two-day period. This can be found in the Planning elections.

Standing as a candidate: list system

You can stand as a candidate for the University Council and the Faculty Councils of Humanities (students), Social and Behavioural Sciences (students), Law, and Science in two ways:

You can join an existing candidate list or party.
You can set up your own candidate list or party.

Two types of forms must be used for the nomination of a party:

1. Candidate list

For the candidacy of a party, a Candidate List must be submitted [link to list of candidates] in which all candidates are listed. The list must be signed by five voters who declare their support for the list of candidates on this form and give preference to the candidates listed therein in the order indicated. The signatories must belong to the section of the relevant elections.

The form must be sent by e-mail to the relevant Electoral Committee.

For the University Council, 30 candidates may be placed on the list. For the faculty councils, the maximum number of candidates is 20.

2. Declaration of consent

Every candidate on the list must sign a declaration of consent form, in which she or he agrees with the candidacy. These forms must be submitted with the Candidate list. Without a signed declaration of consent, the candidate cannot be placed on the list.

Standing as a candidate: candidate system

You can stand as a candidate for the Faculty Councils of Archeology, Governance and Global Affairs, Humanities (staff members), Social Behavioural Sciences (staff members), the LUMC Student Council and the Employee Councils. Apply by completing the application form.

Signing is not necessary, but the form must be sent by uMail (students) or work email (ULCN). Five voters must also support the nomination. The forms must be sent to the relevant Polling Station.

Decision polling stations

A few days after the application deadline, the polling stations will announce their decisions regarding the submitted candidacies. If problems are found which can be resolved- such as the lack of sufficient signatures of eligible voters who support the candidacy – the opportunity will be given to do this within the allotted dates as presented in the time schedule.

Filing an appeal

If you do not agree with a decision by a polling station with regards to the candidacy, you can file an appeal at the chamber for the elections of the Committee for Appeals and Objections (Rapenburg 70 in Leiden) within the allotted dates as presented in the time schedule.

Also against decisions regarding the correction of the electoral register, appeals can be filed at the chamber for the elections of the Committee for Appeals and Objections (Rapenburg 70 in Leiden) within the allotted dates as presented in the time schedule.

Language policy

In the University Council, there are both Dutch and English-speaking members. An interpreter is always present, providing live translation of what is being said in either Dutch or English. It is helpful to have a basic understanding of Dutch at a B1 language level, but this is not a requirement.