Two new vice-presidents have been elected to the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA).
Hasan Rezvi, a second-year electrical engineering student, was elected vice-president of programming with 292 votes in the second round.
Aliza Khan, a second-year law student, was elected vice-president of administration with 422 votes in the first round. Khan ran uncontested.
Khan ran for the vice-president of programming position in RRRA’s April election, but was disqualified for voter intimidation. Documents about the complaint and decision against Khan have since been removed from RRRA’s website.
In a statement to the Charlatan, Khan said her winter vice-president of programming campaign was a “long and strenuous process filled with quite a few hurdles.”
“A massive case of lack of information, miscommunication, and misassumptions from both ends caused an unfortunate result,” she said.
As vice-president of administration, Khan’s platform focused on amplifying student voices through feedback questionnaires and interacting with students.
Khan said she hopes to have monthly tabling events to encourage involvement in RRRA initiatives like RRRACOONS and the Parliament Hill Program.
Meanwhile, Rezvi’s vice-president of programming platform focused on inclusivity and event planning, while promising to fight for increased fraternity and sorority freedoms.
“I will make sure that they have room to thrive while remaining inclusive to all students,” he said during the debate.
In a statement to the Charlatan, Rezvi said that if fraternities and sororities are allowed to thrive on campuses, then they can become more “sophisticated organisations.”
“If a specific fraternity or sorority is causing issues then only the specific fraternity or sorority should suffer the consequences rather than the entire culture being wiped out,” he told the Charlatan.
He also suggested “large-scale” events like formals, snowball fights, ski trips and trivia nights as events to bring energy to campus and engage students.
Nominations for the positions opened on Oct. 9, just days after RRRA president Mohammed Akif announced that both previous RRRA vice-presidents resigned.
Residence students voted on Oct. 18, and RRRA shared the election results in an Instagram post on Oct. 22.
Khan faced another electoral complaint during this fall by-election for campaigning in private or closed spaces. This complaint was dismissed on Oct. 21.
RRRA held a debate over Instagram Live on Oct. 16.
Rezvi arrived over seven minutes late to the debate.
“[Arriving late] was due to me being a bit of a senior citizen when it comes to instagram,” Rezvi told the Charlatan, adding he tried to join the debate from his laptop
“I thought that would be more professional, but it wasn’t letting me join since you can only join from a phone.”
As soon as he joined the live stream, the viewer count surged while the comment section exploded with support for Rezvi and criticism of the opposing candidate, Jahnelle Woldergiorgis.
Comments supporting Rezvi included: “Hasan saved me from a building on fire,” “Hasan the goat” and “Hasan is the one true candidate.”
Negative comments toward Woldergiorgis, including “She’s waffling” and “If Jahnelle wins I’m going to [the University of Ottawa]” went unaddressed.
However, as Khan answered questions in the ensuing one-person vice-president of administration debate, the comments section was immediately disabled after a viewer asked if Khan was the candidate disqualified for voter intimidation last spring.
The decision to disable comments was made by Brooke Muzzatti, RRRA’s chief electoral officer.
“I want to make it clear that I made the decision to disable the comment section,” Muzzatti told the Charlatan.
Muzzatti said the decision to disable comments was made during the vice-president of programming debate, but only took effect during the second due to Muzzatti’s “lack of direct control over the Instagram account.”
“I had to contact the Deputy Electoral Officer to implement this change,” she said in a written statement. “This was the only reason why the comment section was disabled.”
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
