After the final tally, seven parties and nine independent candidates will vie for open positions on the Michigan Student Assembly in the March 19 - 20 election.
Candidates met a 5 p.m. deadline yesterday to register for the elections.
The presidential and vice presidential candidates from the Pissed Off with Korrupt Executives Party chose their party's name only moments before turning in the candidacy papers around 4 p.m.
P.O.K.E. presidential nominee Jim Smith, an SNRE senior, said he does not like the bureaucracy of the current assembly.
"Well, basically we're pissed off with the way MSA operates right now," Smith said.
Smith said he and his running mate LSA junior Matt Tomback are not looking for titles to put on their resumes.
"MSA's here to serve the community, not the individuals on it," Smith said. "People like myself and Matt are selfless leaders."
Leaders of the two parties with the largest slates, the Michigan Party and the Students Party, pledged to improve the future assembly. The presidential and vice presidential candidates for both parties are MSA veterans.
"The idea is that we're going to make a promise to students," said Students' Party presidential candidate Mike Nagrant. "We're not (just) here for this one election."
Nagrant's runningmate, LSA junior Olga Savic, said some voters might question the absence of strong Students' Party representation during the fall representative election.
"We focused our energies in a different way, and now we've come back together again with some more people," said Savic, who was the Students' Party's vice presidential candidate last winter as well. "We didn't go away, we just came back in a bigger and better form."
Current MSA Vice President and Michigan Party presidential candidate Probir Mehta said he will seek direct communication with his constituents before the elections.
"The Michigan Party looks forward to talking with students and implementing its ideas and vision for the next year," said Mehta, an LSA junior.
Mehta's runningmate Dan Serota, the assembly's student general counsel, said the Michigan Party's platform is not complete yet, but the concept of campus renaissance is a possible theme.
"We really want to expand what we're doing and take it to the next level," said Serota, an LSA junior. He added that if elected, he and Mehta intend to make changes "from day one" and not just maintain current assembly standards.
LSA sophomore Tracey Parker said an issue she would like to see raised by candidates is the LSA foreign language requirement.
"I think to most students it's a waste of their time," Parker said. "That's definitely an issue I'd like to see addressed."
The Victors Party's presidential candidate Jim Riske said the Victors party platform speaks for itself.
"We have a lot of new ideas and we can actually be trusted, as opposed to the current administration," said Riske, an Engineering sophomore. "It's several ideas strung together."
MSA Election Director Angie Blake said she hopes all students will increase turnout and vote by utilizing the new electronic polling sites.
"I hope it does because it's such a convenience," Blake said.