Fourth-year political science student Obed Okyere was named Carleton University Students’ Association’s (CUSA) next president, when the unofficial election results were released at approximately 10 p.m. Feb. 11.
“I don’t have words to describe how I feel,” Okyere said. “I am very happy, it’s a dream come true. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be president.”
Okyere won with 1813 votes, just 22 above fellow candidate Dina Skvirsky, of the “A Voice for Students” slate, according to the CUSA website. One hundred and six ballots were rejected, and another 69 were spoiled, according to the unofficial results.
Okyere now faces the challenge of working with Skvirsky’s slate, the rest of whom were voted into office, according to the website.
“I am going to make sure I work with the other team, Okyere said, adding, “congratulations to the other team.”
“A Voice for Students” candidates Ariel Norman, Karim Khamisa, Chantle Beeso, Marc Proctor and Dave Tapiero were elected vice-president (internal), vice-president (finance), vice-president (student issues), vice-president (student services) and vice-president (student life), respectively.
With the exception of vice-president (internal) and vice-president (student life), all other executive positions were won by a margin greater than 100, according to the website.
Current vice-president (student life) Chris Infantry congratulated Okyere shortly after the results were up.
“Now I have no choice to be proud of you,” Infantry said, adding, “I’m graduating, but take care of the school.”
Infantry, who worked alongside Skvirksy, the current vice-president (student issues), said “it is what it is” about the results.
“I see the work ethic and the changes [that] she’s done,” he said. “It sucks because I thought she would have made a great president.”
The challenge, Infantry said, is ensuring the members of different slates work together in the “best interest of the students.”
“The main thing is when you have people from different slates getting in,” he said, “you can’t let political gridlock stop or further the goal of the association, which is to serve the students.”
“As long as they can work to together to actually make their platform points happen then I’m happy,” he said.
Marc Proctor won vice-president (student services) by 325 votes, according to the website, and said he is looking forward to working with Okyere.
“I had nerves and anxiety all day,” Proctor said, adding when he found out he won, he just jumped up and down.
Okyere said being elected without his slate is “very painful.”
“It’s hard, it’s tough because most of the positions were very close,” he said. “They worked tirelessly making sure we all came together and worked together but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.”
Still, Okyere said he’s ready to make sure “students come first.”
“I’m looking forward to being able to improve the reputation of CUSA,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working hard and making sure I am able to accomplish . . . all my promises I made to students.”
Some of Okyere’s campaign promises included making education more affordable by providing bursaries to students, putting textbooks online and negotiating with city hall to make buses to and from campus run later.
Okyere said Skvirsky was a “strong candidate” and he was “nervous” all day awaiting the results.
“She’s very passionate about Carleton and wanted to do big things for [Carleton] students and so she went out there and campaigned really hard . . . I knew it was going to be a tough fight but I still had faith that students will understand me,” he said. “They believed what I was preaching to them when it came to the voting.”
Final results will be announced within seven days pending further investigation into electoral violations, chief electoral officer Allister McCabe said.
Skvirsky could not be reached for comment.
-with files from Chris O’Gorman and Andrew Nguyen