Student Council wins, but suffers major setback in university election 2025

Tensions were high among student politicians as the results of the 2025 university election were presented at the University of Copenhagen’s (UCPH) central board meeting room on 3 December.

As expected, the Student Council got the most votes, meaning that the position as student representative on the Board went to lead candidate Emma Due.

The newly elected Board member was jubilant.

»There are so many volunteers across the university who have worked hard to make this happen. I’m really happy about that. And maybe it’s a sign that it still makes sense to join forces in the Student Council — not based on special interests, but simply by standing together on the important issues,« said Emma Due to the University Post shortly after the results were announced.

The Student Council and its supporting lists secured 4,273 votes, corresponding to 54.1 per cent of the total — a drop from last year, when they got 63 per cent.

Emma Due will join Jesper Gür — also from the Student Council — as a student representative on the Board from 1 January.

The new Board member is looking forward to getting to work.

»UCPH ranks at the top among European universities when it comes to research — but not when it comes to education. So I will fight to ensure that students are given higher priority, and that their interests are represented on the Board, because that can be a challenge in itself,« says Emma Due.

The big unknown of the election

Frie Stillerum (Free Retreat Rooms), one of the new lists at this year’s university election, had attracted attention from several media outlets during the campaign.

UCPH has decided to close its retreat rooms — a decision opposed by the list’s lead candidate, Ali Reza.

Free Retreat Rooms had an impressive debut as a new list, earning 774 votes — equivalent to 9.8 per cent of the total.

»We’re satisfied and relieved. It’s been a tough campaign against the opposition, but in the end this is a victory for student democracy. We’ve managed to engage voters who haven’t previously been involved or voted, and that’s something we want to continue working to strengthen,« says Ali Reza, before adding:

»It’s been a learning experience, but there were also challenges along the way. There has been public scrutiny of the list — and you could even say of me personally, in some cases. But none of this held us back, and we see this result as a win for the many students and the cause we’ve been fighting for,« he says.

Election alliance against the Student Council

Several lists had joined forces in a single electoral alliance ahead of this year’s university election, in the hope of putting an end to the Student Council’s long-standing dominance.

The alliance consisted of Conservative Students, Frit Forum or free forum, Kødfronten or meat front, Students for Diversity, Politrådet, and Conservative Law Students.

Their mission ultimately failed, but lead candidate for Conservative Students Josefine Paaske was still pleased with this year’s result.

»We’ve gained ground, and the result clearly shows that there is discontent among students over the Student Council dominance. I think that’s great. And I’m really happy that the electoral alliance has stuck together and that we ran a good part of the campaign together — that’s something we’ll keep doing,« she says.

Conservative Students — including its usual supporting lists (Conservative Law Students and politrådet) — got 1,311 votes, corresponding to 16.6 per cent. Last year, their total was 15.6 per cent.

The electoral alliance as a whole got 26.2 per cent of the vote.

Ups and downs in showbiz

One of the election’s losers was Frit Forum, which only managed to secure 256 votes — or 3.24 per cent of the total. Last year, the list managed to get 10.1 per cent.

The result is a disappointment for lead candidate Niklas Stentoft Mogensen.

»That’s the way it goes in showbiz. It’s been a brutally tough campaign, with a strong campaign against Frit Forum from both the Student Council, Students Against the Occupation, and Anarchist Students. Unfortunately, I have to admit that it worked. So that’s hugely disappointing, but we’re not defeated,« says Niklas Stentoft Mogensen.

The campaign included criticism of Frit Forum’s stance on the Israel/Palestine conflict — something Niklas Stentoft Mogensen finds puzzling.

»These three groups claim that a vote for Frit Forum is a vote for Israel, which is absolutely not true. We were the only ones to campaign on a proposal for UCPH to admit 50 Palestinians and 50 Ukrainians into an education programme, so we can educate them and they can help rebuild their countries,« he says.

Whether their being a part of the electoral alliance is to be rethought for next year is, according to Niklas Stentoft Mogensen, too soon to say.

»We need to go home, and figure out what just happened. But generally, yes — we’ll definitely need to think carefully about who we partner up with,« he says.

Higher turnout

Overall voter turnout among students in this year’s university election was 20.5 per cent — up from 19.2 per cent last year.

Several sources attribute the increase to Frie Stillerum, the Free Retreat Rooms list, which mobilised students who might not otherwise have voted.

»Student democracy is alive — or at least slowly coming to life. I won’t take all the credit for the extra votes, but I do think we helped increase the numbers, and we’re proud of that,« says Ali Reza.

This article was first written in Danish and published on 3 December. It has been translated into English and post-edited by Mike Young.