The 2022 SU by-election results are in
By Sophia Lopez, October 14 2022—
The winners of the 2022 Students’ Union (SU) by-election were announced today at the South Courtyard stage in Mac Hall at 5 pm. Both candidates and students were eager to hear the results after the three-day voting period, where 2,132 student votes were cast.
In this year’s by-election, an external position, three faculties, and the Board of Governors student representative had potential candidates. The vice-president external, Haskayne School of Business representative, Faculty of Kinesiology representative, the Schulich School of Engineering representatives, and the Board of Governors Student-at-Large will all have new faces this year.
Mateusz Salmassi will be the next vice-president external with 39.3 per cent of the vote.
“It was a tough race and I have a lot of respect for the others who ran,” said Salmassi. “I’m really excited to get started on a lot of the grassroots organizing work that we need to do if we’re going to defeat these budget cuts and tuition hikes that we have.”
With 64.3 per cent of the vote, students have elected Aly Samji to be the next Haskayne School of Business representative.
“I’m really grateful to all the students who put their faith in me,” said Samji. “I’m going to work to the best of my ability to make sure that I live up to my platform points.”
Jessie Dinh will be the next Faculty of Kinesiology representative after gaining 66.9 per cent of the vote.
“I feel super grateful that everyone has such confidence in me being the student leader for their faculty, and I’m super excited to put forward my initiatives into action,” said Dinh.
While the Schulic School of Engineering representative positions weren’t contested, the candidates still needed to acquire a “yes” vote from students in order to land the position.
Both Abhari Limbu and Jacob Artuso acquired a majority “yes” vote from students, making them the next Schulich School of Engineering representatives.
“I know it wasn’t a contested position, but it was still fun to campaign and it’s a shorter term so I’m hoping to really hit the ground running and make a difference,” said Artuso.
Unfortunately, the Gauntlet was not able to obtain a statement from Abhari Limbu.
With 50.6 per cent of the vote, Muntaha Aamir will be the next Board of Governors Student-at-Large.
“I just want to thank everyone who voted for me, that was a really tight race,” said Aamir. “But I had really good support behind me and I’m really looking forward to talking to everybody who supported me, and I’m always open for any comments, questions, concerns.”
Since there were no candidates for vice-president operations and finance and the Faculty of Social Work representative, these positions will remain vacant.
Undergraduate students also had a yes/no vote on a proposed amendment to the SU Constitution by the Students’ Legislative Council (SLC). The amendment would allow for more predictable fee increases to Health and Dental fee amounts for students enrolled in the SU Health and Dental Plans. It was approved with 68.7 per cent of students who voted “yes” in support of this amendment.
All candidates elected will serve until the end of April. The next SU General Election will be held in March 2022 to form the 81th SLC.