The Students’ Union annual byelection went by another year without any complications. The results weren’t all as expected, but a 15 per cent turn out, roughly four percent age points higher than the general election in February, implies that the student democratic process is picking up.
“I was appointed before so I’ll pretty much continue what I was doing except I’ll have a little more freedom and less restrictions,” said newly elected events commissioner Andrea Llewellyn.
As an appointed commissioner during the summer, Llewellyn couldn’t vote or take part in committees. Her first plan is to organize an SU event for Wednesday nights, but she’d also like to continue promoting physical events for de-stress days and finding new music for That Empty Space. She won with 55 per cent of the vote, but received some negative feedback regarding her posters.
“My campaign was made to almost mock any sexualized campaigns that are going on right now,” she said. “Essentially it was just to advertise on underwear so my campaign slogan would be across my bum instead of across a shirt. By no means was it meant to insult anyone or make them uncomfortable or to offend any sort of religious beliefs.”
Kay She and Lauren Webber were elected operations and finance commissioners with 25 and 20 per cent of the vote respectively. She is excited to serve students and hopes her goals will benefit them. She would like to see more and better water fountains in MacHall to reduce sales of non-reusable water bottles.
“It’s always a little sad when other appointed commissioners don’t get elected or validated by the student population, but I’m confident that the new commissioners we have will do an excellent job,” she said. “Training will be time consuming cause they’ve got a lot to learn.”
Former appointed academic commissioner Delphine Nzojibwami was ousted by newcomer Sam Singla by seven votes. Alyssa Stacy was also elected as academic commissioner.
Faculty representative positions for humanities, education, veterinary medicine and nursing were acclaimed. Matt Steele won the science representative position with 42 per cent of the vote.