Students at University College Dublin (UCD) started voting today on a referendum to overturn a recent decision to ban the sale of Coca-Cola products in student union shops.
Voting in the "outlying" campuses will take place today with a ballot for the main Belfield premises being held tomorrow.
The UCD students' union officer, Mr Michael Clark told ireland.cominitial reports indicated a higher turnout than in the first vote on the subject. There are 19,964 students registered to vote in the university.
On October 15th, a motion banning Coca-Cola from five students union shops over alleged human rights abuses was passed by 1,629 votes in favour to 1,570 against.
However, Mr Michael Binchy, a 3rd year law student has gathered more than 800 signatures on a petition suggesting the ban be overturned.
Under UCD student union rules once a petition in excess of 3.5 per cent of those registered to vote has been collected a referendum can be called.
Mr Clark said voting will end at 9.45 p.m. tomorrow. Counting will start immediately with a result expected before midnight.
He added that the second referendum was costing the students union €5,000. The UCD students union has indicated it may look at its rules for running referenda in order to prevent repeat ballots on the same issue recurring.
