The Bipartisan Principle

Campus politics is now genuinely bipartisan.

Last year’s elections saw a two-party Student Council (SC) rivalry for the first time in recent memory. However, in this year’s elections, the student body shall witness not only a bipartisan SC candidacy, but also Batch Councils (BC) officially allying themselves with an SC party. In other words, BC elections, which, until recently, were almost independent of SC elections, will now be irrevocably tied to it.

Traditionally, such a model is politically advantageous. In Philippine politics, major political parties establish alliances in every region, district, and town of the country. Such a model would ideally facilitate the fulfillment of the parties’ political platforms.

If all the candidates of a party won the elections, the SC and all BCs will supposedly work better and uplift a community with a practically common goal. BC candidates (the campus equivalent of a district), in allying themselves with an SC party (our campus LP, Nacionalista, CPP, or PDP-Laban), is adhering to a platform, and consequently, a political spirit.

Fortunately, our campus politics is not as aggressive as Philippine politics. However, campus-wide bipartisanism implies that, if only in thought, students are veering away from personality-based political decisions and looking instead at platforms which represent their vision the most.

Whether or not this implication would be realized is still a question. This year’s campus-wide bipartisanism may serve as a reminder that people don’t vote for a person but for a stand. One can only hope that all votes will be principled.