Out of one of the most heated SFSS elections in recent history, Chardaye Bueckert has emerged as the next president of the SFSS board of directors. Bueckert ran a tight race against ACE slate presidential candidate Brandon Chapman, winning by just 23 votes.
Despite the success of the Move the Mountain’s (MtM) presidential candidate, it was a near landslide victory for ACE; of the 14 total slate members, nine were elected to the 2014/2015 board of directors, giving those candidates a majority on the 16 member-strong board.
Chief executive officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Lorenz Yeung, told those in attendance that this election had the lowest voter turnout in a number of years. Of the approximate 25,000 undergraduate students who attend SFU, only 9.44 per cent cast a ballot.
At the beginning of the night, the mood was tense, but jovial, as the candidates moved from the Highland Pub to one of the MBC conference rooms to hear the election results. Said presidential candidate Alexander Morris, who has been the subject of much electoral controversy, “My stomach feels a little upset because I tried to chug a beer with my friend, Adhar [ . . . ] I hope the people have chosen the best president that will represent them.”
Bueckert had similar words for The Peak. “It’s all up to the voters,” she said. “No matter what happens, there’s no getting rid of me. I’m here for another year — [I] got elected to senate — so that part-time student bursary is my goal before I leave SFU.”
“I hope the people have chosen the best president that will represent them.”
– Alexander Morris,
presidential candidate
“I’m just honestly looking forward to it being done,” said Chapman. “There’s been way too much negativity surrounding this election, and I know that no matter what happens next year, I’m hoping whoever gets elected focuses on the positivity because nothing good will come of [being negative].”
Yeung began by announcing the results of the three referendum questions, two of which concerned extensions to the current Health and Dental Plan. Students voted in favour of increasing the plan’s fee to $255 for the enhanced option; students will still be able to opt out of the plan entirely or choose the $198 basic plan. However, students did not vote to grant the SFSS board the power to increase plan fees by a maximum of five per cent in any given year.
The membership voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of recognizing the Society of Arts and Social Sciences as the official faculty student union. Nonetheless, the motion only exceeded its required voter quota by 12 votes.
Of the six candidates who ran for at-large representative positions, Rebecca Langmead (MtM) and Jeremy Pearce (ACE) clinched the two board spots.
For the three contested faculty rep positions, ACE candidates Shadnam Khan for Business and Katie Bell for Education claimed two of the victories. Deepak Sharma triumphed over his two opponents to be named the Science representative.
“Im sad that that few people voted. That really kills me.”
– Chardaye Bueckert,
SFSS president-elect
Unopposed candidates Ben Rogers (MtM) for Applied Sciences, Brady Wallace (ACE) for Arts and Social Sciences, Shirin Escarcha (ACE) for Communication, Art, and Technology, Tesicca Truong (ACE) for Environment, and Ayla Kooner for Health Science were all elected.
As the IEC began to announce the winning executive candidates, a hush fell over the crowd, save for a few dramatic “ooohs.” VP University Relations candidate Moe Kopahi won his fourth consecutive SFSS election by 82 votes over opponents Clay Gray (MtM) and Sarah Flodr (ACE). Incoming VP External Relations Darwin Binesh (ACE) won by a similar margin of 89 votes over Kathleen Yang (MtM).
Kayode Fatoba, who made a splash on social media with his campaign rap, beat out both slates’ candidates and another independent for VP Student Life. ACE VP Student Services candidate Zied Masmoudi won his seat on the board by a wide margin of 370 votes.
Nevertheless, it was the VP Finance position that received the most votes cast of any executive spot. Receiving a total of 1,036 votes, Adam Potvin (ACE) won by 538 over opponent Nomin Gantulga (MtM).
With ACE having claimed nine of the 15 spots, it seemed as though the slate’s momentum would carry them to a presidential win. The crowd gathered around Chapman, while Bueckert stood in the wings surrounded by a few close supporters.
Yeung announced, “The next president of the Simon Fraser Student Society: Chardaye Bueckert.”
A shocked and excited Bueckert told The Peak, “I’m honoured to have won, but I’m sad that that few people voted. That really kills me.”
When Bueckert went to shake opponent Chapman’s hand, Chapman refused, saying, “You played a very dirty game Chardaye. You didn’t deserve this.”
Fellow presidential candidate Morris remarked, “I feel that this reflects a lot of what I thought was going to happen.”
He continued, “Chardaye’s got experience, ACE has experience, so it’s a fantastic transition. I foresee an interesting student government.”
These results are unofficial and will be confirmed on Monday, after they are ratified by the current board of directors.
When Bueckert went to shake opponent Chapman’s hand, Chapman refused, saying, “You played a very dirty game Chardaye. You didn’t deserve this.”
Very mature Brandon Chapman. As he was the president of ACE I hope that doesn’t reflect the slates outlook of cooperation or else this board might become deadlocked and nonfunctional very quickly.
I don’t see it being deadlocked… ACE has a majority
They’ve also cheated the whole way through. I received an email through a DSU mailing list telling me to vote ACE with a list of candidates. It sucks that Move the Mountain seems to have actually played fair and lost for it.
IMO, Chapman not shaking his opponent’s hand cements the idea the he was unfit to lead the student society. I’m glad he lost.