Debate at JU ahead of the general election
The election debate at JU proceeded in a calm atmosphere and was well received by both the audience and the politicians.
With just a few days to go before the general election, the county’s parliamentary candidates gathered at Jönköping University (JU) for an election debate. All eight parliamentary parties were represented and were welcomed by JU’s President, Måns Svensson.
JU aims to be part of the public debate and therefore hosted an event where representatives from the parliamentary parties had the opportunity to inform staff and students about their policies ahead of the election. In his welcome speech, JU’s President Måns Svensson emphasized the role of academia in a democratic society.
“The academy plays a vital role in promoting the development of a democratic society. This is an opportunity to engage in a democratic dialogue with our politicians and discuss the direction of both the region and the nation. It is wonderful that you politicians are here and are giving us a place in democracy,” said Måns Svensson.
The debate was chaired by Erik Lindfelt, a lecturer at JU and a journalist. To kick things off, he challenged the candidates to match the colours of the students’ overalls to the correct degree programmes. The results were mixed, but eventually the colours were correctly identified.
Interested students
The event was aimed primarily at students at JU and focused on housing, labour market, and education policy. There were also several questions from the audience that came up during the afternoon.
“I think it’s good to engage students ahead of the election. It was a calm and measured debate in which the participants showed respect for one another. There’s more mudslinging in the national parliamentary debates,” says Thindra Gunnarsson, who is studying on the primary teacher training programme specializing in after-school clubs.
“It’s positive that the university organizes political discussions on campus. All elections are important, and the university should be a place for discussion. I think today’s discussion went well,” says Erik Lindfelt.
Jönköping University is also serving as a polling station for early voting. So far, around 2,000 people have cast their votes early at the polling station, which this year is located in the University Library.
It was a well-attended election debate in the JMW Hall at JU.
The political parties spoke to visitors before the debate.
