Photo Credit: Gyan Sinha
The most contentious SMCSU election cycle in recent memory has now concluded.
Gyan Sinha, Contributor
The 2024 St Michael’s College Student Union (SMCSU) spring elections have been counted and certified, concluding the electoral period that saw a referendum, a two-way tie requiring a runoff, and “Abstain” leading the vote totals in one race. We’ll break down the results here:
The ballot included a two-question referendum: one question about compensating SMCSU councillors and the other about increasing the SMCSU levy by $1.55 per semester per student. Question 1 sought to establish an honorarium of $1000 for most SMCSU councilors and $3000 for the council’s President and Vice President. Question 2 sought to increase the SMCSU levy to fund this proposal. In the unofficial results, Question 1 passed with 58% in favour, while Question 2 was rejected with 62% voting against. However, following subsequent review, the Election Appeals Board declared the results invalid due to violations of the SMCSU referendum bylaws.
Speaking on the referendum results, Nejat Ahmed, the current VP of Equity, said, “It has been some time since SMCSU last held a referendum, so I think this will serve as a precedent for how to handle” referenda in the future.
Yusuf Durmus, the current Vice President, and Vaishu Koduri, the current VP of Academic Affairs, have been elected as President and Vice President, respectively. Other current councillors who won re-election include Nejat Ahmed, who will return to the VP of Equity role, and Arib Hassam, the current VP of Mental Health, who will now serve as VP of Community Life.
Meanwhile, the races for VP of Academic Affairs and VP of Mental Health have finally been decided, with Catherine Amoguis winning the runoff election for VP of Academic Affairs after a tie occurred during the general election. And after review, the Election Appeals Board has declared Matthew Seppanen the winner of the VP of Mental Health contest, as he had the most votes of the candidates running. This comes after the results for VP of Mental Health ended with “Abstain” leading the ballot count by 28 votes.
A total of nine new councilors have been elected, including Catherine Amoguis and Matthew Seppanen: Sariha Dewan as VP of Athletics, Lucia Chen as VP of Student Organizations, Doyin Adeoya as VP of International Community Outreach, Justus Croskery as VP of Spiritual Life, Christina Shnaider as VP of Arts, Dylan Casimiro as VP of Communications, and Vidhi Jhawar as VP of Finance.
