No existing members return, best voter turnout in years

The unofficial results of the SAMU executive committee election are in, and all five positions were won by new faces to the committee. Results become official Saturday at 4 p.m. pending any disputes. 

Students’ councillor, Nathan Poon, has been elected to serve as the EC president, winning over Darcy Hoogers, the previous vice-president (academic), by a slim margin of 62 votes. 

Chioma Uzor, another students’ councillor will sit as the new vice-president (academic). After competing with two other candidates, she won 48.9 per cent of the votes for the position.

The vice-president (external) seat will be filled by Wilfrid Youbi Fansi, winning 67.1 per cent of the vote. 

The vice-president (governance and finance) position was won by Andrei Santiago, winning 62 per cent of the vote. 

Alem Tesfay is the third students’ councillor to win a spot on EC. He won the vote for vice-president (student life), winning against Aleace Moom, who previously held the position, by 278 votes.

While all the positions were contested, the candidate receiving the most votes in total was Wilfrid Youbi Fansi, raking in 1320 votes, with Alem Tesfay (1191 votes) and Andrei Santiago (1122 votes) not far behind. 

20.6 per cent of eligible voters turned out, making up 3305 voters in total, a steep increase in turnout from previous elections. Last year’s EC election saw only 6.3 percent of eligible voters showing up, while November’s student council election saw 13.2 percent of voters turn up. 

This marks the highest voter turnout at an EC election since 2017. 

In addition to the SAMU executive committee election vote, voters also participated in the U-Pass referendum vote and decided whether they were in favour or opposed to the renewal of a mandatory universal transit pass (U-Pass). 

Voters voted overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the U-Pass, with 77.8 per cent of voters voting to continue the program. 20.1 per cent of eligible voters turned out to vote in the referendum.

As a result of the referendum results, the U-Pass program will continue, staying a mandatory fee for all students participating in on-campus programs who are enrolled in at least one in-person or hybrid class, with opt-out options available for those who qualify. The contract will hold for three years before another one is struck, where another referendum will be held.