Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect changes to the Official Candidate List, as found on the CUSA elections website.
Campaigning for the 2018 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) byelection is underway and will run from March 14 to 20.
There are three executive positions up for grabs: president, vice-president (student services), and vice-president (internal). Following the nomination period for the first election, there were nine candidates for six positions, whereas the nomination period for the byelection initially resulted in 14 candidates running for three positions.
The only candidates re-running from the first election are those from the One Carleton slate who lost to the ‘no confidence’ vote.
Currently, six candidates are running for the position of president, with David Oladejo (One Carleton) and Donna Al Sououb (Confidence) as the only presidential candidates from slates. Lacretia Antwi, Mehdi Bouchentouf, Connor Coukell, and Thompson Stubbs are running as independent candidates.
The presidential candidate “Dan the Unicorn” has since dropped out of the election, according to an updated list of candidates posted by the Elections Office the night of March 14.
The four candidates running for vice-president (internal) are: Natalie York (One Carleton), James Brunet (SOLIDARITY), Tristan Taylor (Confidence), and Ryan St-Jean as an independent candidate.
Vice-president (student services) has only three candidates in the running and no independents. The candidates include Cassandra Ambar (One Carleton), Diana Idibe (Confidence), and Ahmad Rahal (SOLIDARITY).
The byelection will also seek to fill six vacant councillor positions: four faculty of arts and social sciences positions; one public affairs position; and one special student position.
Monib Abdulrazaq, Kareem AlWazir, Rachel Campbell, Shay Ishola, and Dawson Braine are all running for the faculty of public affairs position, while Jacob Dioszeghy is running as a special student.
Sierra Hitsman, Cameron Jette, and Evan Saunders are the three candidates vying for the faculty of arts and social sciences positions.
At the all-candidates meeting on March 13, the CUSA Elections Office reminded candidates not to engage in any negative campaigning. This includes asking voters to rank a certain candidate or slate last on the ballot, said deputy electoral officer Aiden Forsyth. He said candidates can ask voters to rank them as their second choice on the ballot but can’t encourage students to vote against other candidates.
A “Rank One Carleton Last” campaign is being promoted through social media platforms such as Facebook and Reddit, however, this does not break the electoral code so long as the individual behind the campaign is not also running for a position on CUSA. Currently, no name is associated with the campaign.
CUSA president Zameer Masjedee said he isn’t sure how students will respond to the byelection, considering the distraction of the CUPE 2424 strike, as well as the recent Board of Governors and Rideau River Residence Association’s elections.
“Students are a little bit fed up with all promotion that’s happening, right, and you can’t really blame them,” he said. “We can never forget that the primary focus and priority of students is their academics, and we want to ensure that we’re not sort of impeding that in an way with this byelection.”
The executive and councillor debates will take place on March 19 in the University Centre atrium, while voting will run from March 21 and 22.
