Fresh UTM claimed a landslide victory in the Spring UTMSU elections. The unofficial results were released on Sunday night on UTMSU’s Facebook page, announcing the full slate’s victory for all five executive positions.
“Our team was surprised by the results. I think when you’re running in an election, you think of the worst case scenario, like all of your hard work amounting to nothing. We were very thorough, we had a number of people part of the campaign, which allowed us to reach out to as many students as possible, and I think everyone’s hard work paid off,” wrote the new president-elect from the Fresh UTM slate, Salma Fakhry, in an email to The Medium.
“I’m very thankful to my team of volunteers and my executives. We had a great time talking to students, and we’re so grateful for the opportunity to work on these issues.”
Some of Fresh UTM’s campaign promises include securing a GTA-wide U-Pass for UTM students, working towards reinstating OHIP coverage for international students, and creating a midterm deferral policy for students who are unable to take their midterms at the designated time or have multiple midterms on the same day.
“We’re most excited to work on the GTA U-Pass and the midterm deferral policy. I believe the GTA U-Pass will take more time, simply because of the work we need to do with other student unions in the GTA and with Metrolinx. Hopefully, the midterm deferral policy will be easier, because variations of the policy exist at other universities,” stated Fakhry.
Fakhry also wrote that after the results of the election are ratified, their team will be preparing to transition into their new roles.
Their transition includes learning administrative responsibilities from the current union. The team will also be meeting to discuss how to achieve their campaign promises.
When asked when the official election results will be released, UTMSU VP external Marise Hopkins stated that they have been ratified by the ERC and will be carried on to the UTMSU board to be officially ratified.
As previously reported by The Medium, Fakhry had stated that her team is now at 13 demerit points. The UTM First team had 39 demerits, except for their VP equity candidate, Mduduzi Mhlanga, who had 64 points, as of March 12.
“The only demerit points appealed that changed were [Mhlanga’s], who now has 54 demerit points,” this year’s chair of the Elections and Referenda Committee, Hopkins, wrote to The Medium in an email on March 17.
The winners for the Board of Directors in Division II and Division III were also announced. For Division II, Melinda Callahan, Nour Shell, Neisha Ghani, and Zakk Dodge were elected.
As for Division III, winners are as follows: Mohammad Ali Al-Hassan, Shirley Cui, Amy Jin, Jessica Duggan, Zahira Tsabehji, Kelly Liu, and Rasha Al-Rammahi.
The UTMSU elections concluded on March 9 and the unofficial results were released on the evening of March 11. The next UTMSU board meeting is expected to take place this Tuesday to officially ratify the election results.
