The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) is violating an association bylaw by not holding a presidential by-election this year.
CUSA will begin its normal presidential elections process in February, according to chief electoral officer (CEO) Nicolas Gil Ocampo.
Ahmad Hashimi has served as interim president since Matthew Gagné resigned on July 15, 2021. The extended presidential vacancy violates current bylaw section 2.2.0d which states by-elections for executive seats must be called within six months of a resignation.
Ocampo said the by-election was delayed so long due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CUSA rewriting its bylaws and the late hiring of electoral officers in November.
“Extreme circumstances require extreme measures,” Ocampo said. “It serves no practical purpose to have a by-election at this point as well as a general presidential election.”
Vice-president (community engagement) Callie Ogden wrote in an email to the Charlatan that executives recused themselves from the election process and it is the responsibility of CUSA’s CEO to call a by-election.
CUSA voted once to delay the presidential by-election during a meeting in late September. According to CUSA electoral code policy 8.3, executive positions made vacant during the summer must be filled in a September by-election. In a September meeting, council voted to delay the presidential by-election indefinitely, amending policy 8.3 in the process.
CUSA council did not update the association’s bylaw. The association’s revised bylaws presented to council in December, which come into effect on May 1, do not specify a deadline for filling a presidential vacancy.
Ocampo said forgoing a by-election was his simplest solution when dealing with incongruence between CUSA’s policy and bylaw.
“[Being CEO] has required a lot of freestyling, simply because these are unprecedented circumstances,” Ocampo said.
The association is scheduled to meet next on Jan. 17.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
