Board of Governors representative appeal results are in: Ayachit as BOG Rep

By Gurman Sahota, July 31 2019 —

On July 29, the Students’ Union Review Board decided to uphold the SU general election results of Board of Governors representative — allowing Ananya Ayachit to be the BOG rep for the 2019/20 term. 

This decision comes after a lengthy appeals process that included an initial complaint filed by candidate Frank Finley regarding alleged violations by Ayachit’s campaign. The review board was further encumbered by a conflict of interest by members and thus was then set to appoint interim members in order to resolve the complaint. If Finley wishes to appeal this result, he will have 10 days to appeal to the second stage of the conflict resolution process, a tribunal.

The decision comes after the appeal result of vice-president external, naming Sadiya Nazir as VPX. Filed by candidate Anayat Sidhu whose name was not included on the ballot after failing to pay a fine, the election result was also upheld for this position.   

“As an organization, we’re very proud of our governance processes,” said SU president Jessica Revington. “But we also recognize that we are not perfect and we have lots of areas where we can improve. The review board has actually recommended several areas of improvement and we will be looking at those moving into the by-election and the general election in 2020.”

The official results of the 2019 SU general election can now be certified by the chief returning officers as according to section 50(1) of the SU’s bylaw, “election results shall be declared official after the Review Board submission date has passed without appeal or after all appeals duly received have been discharged by the Review Board.” 

For more information on the SU’s election process, click here. 

The next open BOG meeting will be on Oct. 18, at 8:00 a.m. in A167.