English summary

The biennial representative council elections of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki (http://www.hyy.fi/vaalit/) are taking place on the 3rd and 4th of November 2009, with advance voting on 28th and 29th October. The sixty-member council is the highest decision-making body of the student union.

The Electoral Coalition of Student Nations (Osakuntien suuri vaalirengas in Finnish) is the largest election coalition with its 362 candicates from 8 candidate groups. The coalition has candicates from every faculty of the University of Helsinki, and is independent from political parties.

The Coalition has a long track record of working for maintaining a strong support for student societies and supervising the interests of students.

The election themes of the Coalition are:

• The economic welfare of students must not be endangered
• Studying should be more flexible and less bureaucratic
• A student can have a life: Culture, sports facilities and other non-studies aspects of student life are important
• Studying should be possible, no matter if you are a mother, physically disabled, elderly, speak a minority language, ...
• Social welfare by supporting student societies
• A sustainable student union: HYY should show a good example in development cooperation activities

The Coalition's candidates' candidate numbers are 426-781.