Information on the elections is primarily offered in Dutch. Upon request, the Neutral Committee is glad to inform and aid you in English!
In the course of the second semester, one or more Electoral Team(s) ("kiesploegen") present themselves to the biomedical and medical students at KU Leuven. You van find out more about the formation and elections of these student representatives on this page.
For a group of students to be eligible as a valid Electoral Team for Medica's Praesidium in the next academic year and working year (2025-2026), every Electoral Team must fulfill the requirements posed in the Werkingsreglement (available in Dutch, English explanation is offered upon request). The Neutral Committee, appointed by the current Praesidium, guides and oversees the entire electoral process and enforces the applicable rules.
The candidates for the Executive Board and 'team coordinator'-mandates of every Electoral Team will be published before the Election Week. These candidates have to be elected internally within their Electoral Team as per the Werkingsreglement.
In order to obtain voting right for the Internal Elections of an Electoral Team, one is mandatory to be present on one of the following Medica information meetings and on the first Election Meeting (cf. infra). Furthermore, one must fulfill the criteria to have the right to vote in the Election Week, i.e. be a biomedical or medical student at KU Leuven.
The Neutral Committee takes attendance and thereby checks who has obtained voting right. When one cannot attend a mandatory session and wishes to obtain voting right, one must contact the Neutral Committee beforehand. The Neutral Committee intends to award voting right in that case only if (1) the person was effectively hindered on the mandatory meeting, (2) they have tried to attend the other mandatory meetings, and (3) they have engaged themself to obtain sufficient information about Medica's elections and operations.
The deadline to pose as a candidate for an electable function is 48 hours before the start of Election Meeting where the election for that mandate is held. The starting hours of the Election Meetings will be announced through Medica's social media. Election Meetings take place in the meeting rooms Bureau and Secretariaat, upstairs in Doc's Bar (Brusselsestraat 246, Leuven). The meeting can be organised in hybrid or full online format when decided by the Neutral Committee.
In an Election Meeting ('stemvergadering'), a candidate (team) coordinator can be elected as a member of an Electoral Team with a specified mandate. In the Election Meeting, at least half of the people who hold internal voting right must be present. Candidates present their view on the mandate in 5 minutes and then answer (1) questions about their view and motivation, (2) questions about the structure of Medica and Medica npo, (3) questions about their factual knowledge of the mandate, (4) questions formulated as cases to handle and/or (5) funny questions. Then a closed discussion and vote follow. Candidates are internally elected by a simple majority.
The deadline to pose as a candidate for a non-electable function is 48 hours before the start of the Election Week (so deadline = Saturday 19th of April 2025 at 22:00).
If you wish to pose yourself as a candidate for an electable function or as candidate-praesidium member, then send in your candidacy through neutraalcomite@medica.be. Attention: deadlines will be enforced strictly by the Neutral Committee; we intend to allow no exceptions!
The Election Meetings are openly accessible to all biomedical and medical students at KU Leuven. However, the contents of the discussion are confidential between the people present. Only those who have rightfully obtained voting right for the Internal Elections (see: Werkingsreglement) have the right to cast their vote and possibly carry a proxy.
All biomedical and medical students at KU Leuven can anonymously cast their vote on one (of the) Election Team(s), against all Election Teams or can abstain from voting. Each eligible student has one vote that cannot be changed after it was cast. This is how students elect their student representatives as well as the Executive Board of Medica npo for the upcoming academic year.
This year, the voting will be open from Monday 21st of April 2025 at 22:00 until Thursday 24th of April - this period of time is called the 'Active Election Week'. On Friday 25th of April 2025, the Neutral Committee will announce the results of the election.
Voting happens through medica.stemt.org and is controlled by MFA. This link will be announced through both Medica's official channels as well as by the Election Team(s).
The members of Medica's Neutral Committee in 2024-2025 are:
This composition was approved by Medica's Bureau on Tuesday 03/12/2024. The students that make up the Neutral Committee may not be par of any Electoral Team.
The Neutral Committee can be contacted via neutraalcomite@medica.be.