Students for Students and independent candidates win one seat each

The votes are in for this year’s Student Association (SA) elections, and while the results are still unofficial, it looks like another successful campaign by the Act Now!, as the slate took seven of nine contested positions. Act Now! team members were also acclaimed to eight positions, where there was no opponent.

In total the Act Now! slate captured 15 of the 21 positions on the SA board of directors.

Brittney DaCosta was voted as the new director of campus life, defeating Students for Students (S4S) slate member Monir Mojumder by 236 votes. “I’m going to have an open door policy,” DaCosta said. “I really encourage students to come in and talk to me.”

Mojumder has yet to respond to a request for comment.

In the liberal arts and preparatory studies contest, Michelle Harrypaul of the S4S slate, edged Act Now! candidate Janae Kelly Clarke by a single vote. The contest had five spoiled ballots.

In the business representative race, independent candidate Ron Greenberg, defeated Act Now! slate member Mayank Shah and Fadi Mardnli of S4S. Greenberg garnered 121 votes, while Mardnli and Shah had 100 and 91 votes respectively. There were 15 spoiled ballots.

Greenberg is the only independent candidate to win a position in the elections. “For me, it was a lot of hard work,” he said. “I felt I was up against that slate system, and I was, so it was a lot of campaigning.”

In 2015, the chief returning officer’s report recommended that the slate system be abolished.

In addition to representing and advocating for business students, Greenberg intends to scrutinize how the SA spends its budget. “It’s really tough to get information on what the accounting expenses are, what they do for students’ money, so I’d like to get that as soon as I get in there.”

Both Shah and Mardnli intend to run again next year. “I learned from this campaign and this is just a lesson for next year,” said Mardnli. “Either you learn from it, or you run from it,” said Shah. “I learned a lot and I’m going to be back.”

In the contest for Waterfront campus director position, Gagan Deep of the Act Now! slate defeated incumbent Jamie Jamieson by the largest margin with 81 per cent of the votes. While Jamieson ran as an independent this time winning 15 per cent of the vote, last year he won the Waterfront campus director position as part of the Act Now! team.

Even though the two were competing for the same position, Jamieson said that he harbours no ill-will towards Deep. “Honestly, I just wish Gagan the best. We are friends, and if he needs any help, he can rely on me.”

Deep said that the two candidates had a friendly competition, and stayed in touch during the election period.

As Waterfront campus director, Deep plans to focus on helping students at the campus relax during their busy days by putting massage chairs in the student lounge inside the SA’s space. Between studying, clinical work and placements, Deep said Waterfront students only get a one-hour break a day. “We should do something, since we are the SA and they elect us every year, to make that one hour really enjoyable and relaxing for them.”

Francis Torres, who was elected as the St. James campus director with 52 per cent of the vote, said that his first day on the job will involve a lot of work. “As much as I want to enjoy this and celebrate this election, it’s the first step,” he said. “I want to make sure that I don’t take this job lightly.”

Csaba Suki placed second in the race for St. James campus director, garnering 36 per cent of the vote. Twelve per cent of the ballots in the race were spoiled.

According to Asad Raza, this year’s chief returning officer, 1,338 students voted in the elections. The number of voters is down 53 per cent compared to 2015 when 2,853 students voted in a much more contested election. The unoffical results still have to be ratified by the Student Association’s board of directors.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Mayank Shah and Fadi Mardnli with the wrong slates. Incorrect percentages for the GBC board of governors election results was also printed. The Dialog regrets the errors.  

 

SA election unofficial results 2016

Note: some percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding.

GBC Board of Governors student representative
Gazi Farok: 549 (41.2%)
Pawandeep Singh (Act Now!): 610 (46%) Elected
Spoiled: 168 (12.7%)

Director of Campus Life
Brittney Dacosta (Act Now!): 724 (53.7%) Elected
Monir Mojumder (Students for Students): 488 (36.2%)
Spoiled: 137 (6.6%)

St .James Campus Director
Csaba Suki (Students for Students): 167 (36%)
Francis Torres (Act Now!): 242 (52.2%) Elected
Spoiled: 55 (11.9%)

Waterfront Campus Director
Gagan Deep (Act Now!): 356 (81.1%) Elected
Jamie Jamieson: 65 (14.8%)
Spoiled: 18 (4.1%)

Arts and Design Rep
Cathryn Honschar: 38 (15.9%)
Amandeep Singh: 44 (18.4%)
Rajat Sood (Act Now!): 154 (64.4%) Elected
Spoiled: 3 (1.3%)

Business Rep
Ron Greenberg: 121 (37%) Elected
Fadi Mardnli (Students for Students): 100 (30.6%)
Mayank Shah (Act Now!): 91 (27.8%)
Spoiled: 15 (4.6%)

Health Sciences
Roohjyot Cheema (Act Now!): 267 (61.7%) Elected
Megan Phillips (Students for Students): 126 (29.1%)
Spoiled: 40 (9.2%)

Liberal Arts & Preparatory Studies
Janae Kelly Clarke (Act Now!): 26 (44.8%)
Michelle Harrypaul (Students for Students): 27 (46.6%) Elected
Spoiled: 5 (8.6%)

International Students Rep
Rekki Kumar (Students for Students): 76 (26.6%)
Gurjot Singh (Act Now!): 184 (64.3%) Elected
Spoiled: 26 (9.1%)

Acclaimed positions:

Director of communications and internal
Prabhnoor Anand (Act Now!)

Director of education
Tiffany White (Act Now!)

Director of equity
Mohammed Rajai Mohamed Refai

Director of operations
Gemeda Beker (Act Now!)

Casa Loma campus director
Naqeeb Omar (Act Now!)

Satellite campus director
Shu (Stephanie) Han (Act Now!)

Community services Rep.
Andrew Murrell (Students for Students)

Construction and engineering Rep.
Mojeeb Attai (Act Now!)

Hospitality Rep.
Cathy Chung (Act Now!)

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Rep.
Leslie Vanevery

Accessibility Rep.
Carolyn Mooney

LGBTQ Rep.
Sheldon (Aintony) Mortimore (Act Now!)