The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) has released the results of its 2022 spring elections, filling five out of six of its available executive positions. Two of the five races were uncontested, and the president position remains vacant due to lack of candidates.

The voter turnout was 6.6 per cent, six per cent lower than turnout last year when voter turnout was 12.6 per cent. All the executive elections saw more than a 30 per cent abstention rate. Some academic and division directors were also elected, with full results available on the UTSU’s Simply Voting website. 

President by-election

The UTSU has announced that it will hold a by-election to elect its next president. Nominations are now open and will close at midnight on April 8. The campaign period will then run from April 11–22.

Students will be able to vote on the union’s president from April 19 to April 22. 

Results

Dermot O’Halloran won the uncontested position of vice-president operations, which he has held once before, with 85.4 per cent votes in favour, not including abstentions. Maria Ebeid also won the only other uncontested election for vice-president professional faculties, garnering an 89.7 per cent votes in favour.

Sarah Rana won the election for the most hotly contested position, vice-president equity, beating out five other candidates with 23.9 per cent of votes in the first round, not including abstentions. 

Victoria Liu and Elizabeth Shechtman also won their own races for vice president university & public affairs and vice-president student life, respectively. Liu got 55.1 per cent of votes in the first round against two other candidates, while Shechtman got 81.7 per cent against one other candidate, not including abstentions. 

The union also passed two referenda, the first in favour of increasing its student fee for the Student Aid Program to a total of $3.00 to contribute more funds to the Student Aid Program, and the second in favour of increasing its fee to improve its World University of Canada Student Refugee Program to $1.95. 

Disclosure: Elizabeth Shechtman was an associate news editor at The Varsity during 2021-2022.