The Rise Up UTSC slate has won all positions of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) except for those of President, Director of Philosophy, and Part-Time Director, according to unofficial results released on February 9.
Nicole Brayiannis was elected President and is the sole executive winner from the UTSC Voice slate, having defeated Rayyan Alibux 905–721. Rise Up UTSC’s presidential candidate, Deena Hassan, was disqualified.
Rise Up UTSC won the other four elected executive positions. Ayaan Abdulle won Vice-President Academics and University Affairs, Hana Syed won Vice-President External, Chemi Lhamo won Vice-President Equity, and Desmond Chan won Vice-President Operations.
Brayiannis said that UTSC Voice members had tried their best, but that “the odds were stacked against [them] from the start.”
“The SCSU election always has the same people running every year. There is always a returning executive that brings in a group of people. This year UTSC Voice was a brand new team of students who challenged that. We tried our very best without the advantage of having any prior SCSU experience.”
Despite the defeat of her slate, Brayiannis is still “looking forward to working alongside this team to do what is best for students on our campus.”
Recounts, appeals for demerit points, and submissions for campaign expenses must be addressed before the results are sent to the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) for approval. After the ERC approves them, the results are sent to the SCSU Board of Directors to be made official — this will likely happen at the March 29 board meeting.
The Director of Philosophy position was a tie and will be recounted, along with three other positions that also had narrow margins of victory: Director of Physical and Environmental Science, Director of Centre for Critical Development, and Director of Computer and Mathematical Sciences.
Chief Returning Officer Sahab Jesuthasan said the unofficial voter turnout was 1,887, 954 of which were spoiled ballots. The election was conducted using only paper ballots.
None of the executive winners from Rise Up UTSC responded to The Varsity’s requests for comment.