Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard Petty Officer and final year Electrical Engineering student Jason Benjamin was yesterday elected President of the University of Guyana Students Society (UGSS).

However some students were unable to vote because they have not yet completed the registration process. Despite this, Benjamin was returned as president of the society with 286 more votes than his competitor Alvin Doris of the Students Rights Movement.

Benjamin who is a past president of the UGSS told Stabroek News that he was elated and plans on making the lives of university students better. He stated that the focus of his Standard Bearers party now that they have been returned to office is to have local area networking as a step toward online registration sponsored by Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company.

This, he said, should be in place before the next school year. They also have plans for the early delivery of certificates to graduates. Additionally they plan on refurbishing classrooms, computerizing the UG library and rehabilitation of the washrooms.

They will also be focusing on improvements in sport at the university and the return of the Turkeyen Community Radio station, he added, is pending.

Voting began last Wednesday at the Turkeyen campus and continued on Friday at the Tain Campus, Berbice. It was completed yesterday at the Turkeyen campus when the post graduate and Certificate in Education students voted.

According to Benjamin, the Turkeyen campus has approximately 5,000 students while 500 are at the Tain campus. He added that approximately 1,100 students voted from the two campuses combined. At Turkeyen for the presidency, Benjamin received 637 votes while the opposition Students Rights Movement presidential candidate Doris received 400 votes. At Tain, Benjamin received 53 votes while Doris received 10. Six post-graduate students voted for Benjamin while none voted for Doris.

Benjamin blamed the poor voter turnout on the registration system which, he said, students complained to him about.

He stated that the Standard Bearers party was formed in 2003 by Kadri Parris with him as senior vice president. He later took over from Parris and was elected president of the society for the 2005/2006 period. He was unable to run again for president in the 2006/2007 period because of constitutional stipulations but his party won the election and Damian La Rose became president. He stated that he became eligible to run again this year and did so.

Benjamin said “we intend to work as a team to enhance the quality of student life on campus.”

He will officially take over as president of the society later. (Keisha McCammon)