CAIRO — On Dec. 14, student elections in Egyptian public universities raised several questions about the future of the relationship between public university students and the ruling regime.

The student elections, which had not been held the past two years in Egypt, attracted a low turnout both in terms of candidates and voters. The majority of seats were either won by acclamation due to the lack of sufficient candidates or appointed by the university administration due to the complete absence of candidates.

Each faculty will now have a student council of 14 members, including a president and a vice president. On Dec. 14, which was the final day of the elections, the elected student councils elected a union representing all university students. This union is also composed of 14 members, including a president and a vice president.

Observers believe that the regulations that were approved by the government a week before the elections was a decisive factor that allowed the regime to control the student movements within universities. Since the outbreak of the January 25 Revolution in 2011, students have been giving the successive authorities a headache, these observers argued.