VISION UTSC slate wins three executive positions in SCSU election

In a victory for her slate, Sarah Mohamed, current Vice-President Campus Life, will be the next president of the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) after a three day election from February 11–13. Mohamed’s slate, VISION UTSC, also claimed victories with Lulu Gemma elected as Vice-President Academics & University Affairs, and Eesha Chaudhry as Vice-President External.

The three remaining positions of Vice-President Equity, Operations, and Campus Life are still unfilled since there was a less than five per cent margin between the candidates for each position. This has triggered a recount in accordance with the SCSU’s Elections and Procedures Code.

The results, which need to be ratified by the SCSU Board of Directors, show that Mohamed won with 944 votes in her favour; 693 votes for her opposition, WENITED slate candidate Carly Sahagian; 145 votes for independent candidate Claire Caluag, and 160 spoiled ballots. Sahagian is the SCSU’s current Vice-President Academics & University Affairs.

Gemma took the Vice-President Academics & University Affairs position with the narrowest margin of 148 votes, up against WENITED Yathu Uthayan. Uthayan had the highest number of votes for a candidate on his slate. The race also had 205 spoiled ballots.

Chaudhry, the Vice-President External elect, won by 154 votes over WENITED candidate Annie Sahagian, who had 697 votes in favour, with 224 spoiled ballots and 156 votes in favour of independent candidate Jordan Mirembe.

For director elections, WENITED candidates won a majority of the positions not currently in a recount, including directors for arts, culture & media, critical development studies, historical and cultural studies, philosophy, political science, and psychology.

VISION UTSC candidates were elected into director positions for computer & math sciences, physical & environmental science, international students, and management studies. An independent candidate, Anto Resurreccion, was elected to the director position for sociology.

Average turnout across the three executive positions was 1,940 votes, which translates to a 13.85 per cent voter turnout of the 14,000 members in the SCSU, according to its website.