PRESIDING rector Stavros Zenios was re-elected in the University of Cyprus elections yesterday after a tight race that had to be taken to a second count distribution before determining the victor.
After the second count, Zenios secured 157 votes, Elpida Keravnou took 148 and Christos Schizas received 69.
A total of 339 people from the university community had the right to cast votes. Two hundred and forty-two came from academic staff, 81 were students and 15 were members of the governing board.
Three hundred and twenty-two of the 339 eligible voters participated, with five of those ballots left blank and one marked invalid.
Since none of the three candidates had secured over 50 per cent of the vote in the first count (Zenios took 126, Keravnou 121 and Schizas 69), election officers then counted the second-choice candidates on the ballots of Schizas – who took third place and was therefore eliminated. As a result, Zenios secured another 31 votes and Keravnou 27.
Yesterday morning’s elections were reported to have taken place smoothly and within the 9am to noon time-allotment.
After election officials announced Zenios’ victory, the voters then returned to the poll in the afternoon to select a Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and a Vice Rector for Economics and International Affairs.
Due to requests that voters know who is elected rector before choosing vice rectors, the University recently amended the law so that the vote for rector precedes the vote for vice rector.
Since no one decided to run against the presiding Vice Rector of Economics and International Affairs, Antonis Kakas was re-elected, securing 230 of the 317 votes cast, with 86 votes left blank and one rejected as invalid.
The race for Vice Rector for Academic Affairs was taken to a second count distribution of the 317 voters, with Costas Christophides winning with 152 votes, Athanassios Gagatzis securing 139, and Charis Theocharis receiving 55.
University of Cyprus elections differ from other elections in that students can also vote along with faculty and the board.
Since the student groups are affiliated with political parties, the student vote is seen as a vehicle through which parties can influence the outcome of the election.
Eighty of the student votes are divided among two party groups, with the AKEL student group Proodeftiki carrying 41 votes and the DISY student group Protoporia carrying 39 votes. The non-party affiliated Independent Students’ Bastion has one vote.
DISY’s Protoporia lent its support to winning candidate Zenios, while AKEL’s Proodeftiki supported Keravnou.
Who is Stavros Zenios?
ZENIOS has authored two books and (co)authored over 130 scholarly articles, and he holds two US patents on financial engineering methods. He received a BSc degree in Mathematics from London University in 1980, a BEng degree in Electrical Engineering from Council of Engineering Institutions in 1982, MA and PhD degrees in Engineering-Management Systems from Princeton University in 1986, and an Honorary MA from University of Pennsylvania in 1992. Prior to joining the University of Cyprus to serve as the first Dean of the School of Economics and Management, he was a tenured faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Zenios has served as a consultant for several financial institutions and has lectured at over 50 universities in the United States, Europe and the Far East.
