.::* Living and Dreaming *::.

AIESEC in Nagoya City University LCP Election

I had the honour of attending the LCP election for my host AIESEC local and it was definately a different process than how we do it back at home. For one, it's a full 2 days (I was only there for 3 hours on the last day) and I'm talking over 12 hours a day. It's really intensive and they really take things seriously here.For one thing, members are not allowed to miss more than 2 general assemblies or else they are "fired". For this election to be valid, at least 2/3 of the members of the local have to be present throughout the whole process or else voting cannot take place. At this election, I counted 39 members, 3 candidates, 2 moderators, and me, the spectator that didn't understand all the japanese being spoken. Yes, it was all in Japanese and no I did not fall asleep.

There were some things that were like back at home. Speeches and Q and A. But on top of that, there were sessions that focuses on the candidates personalities, their manifestos (which were 60 pages long!), etc. and then seperate Q and A for those. Another thing is, each candidate has to have someone who recommends them for the position and these recommendors have to give a presentation as well. Just imagine being grilled by questions on who you are as a person and your vision for the local for 24 hours. I have to give these guys a lot of credit for going through with this, and also the local for showing so much dedication to the organization. By the time I showed up, I can tell that these people went through a lot.
And then came voting and the announcement of who won the election. Yes, they do this at the end of day 2. During the count, the room was unbearably quiet and you can tell everyone was so nervous. And instead of dumping a water on the winner of the election, this is what happened. When the winner is announced, everyone pushes over the tables, the guys run up onto the stage and tosses the winner. Poor Yusaku, they accidently dropped him but he was okay. Then, they toss the other candidates as a show of respect. The candidates still have to give speeches after and by this time, everyone was crying and were very emotional.
Kudos to AIESEC in Nagoya City University for selecting a new President and CONGRATULATIONS Yusaku on your success!

posted by ~diana~ @ 9:01 PM