It was a race so tight they held it twice.
Jimmy Dhesa eked out a victory over opponent Thomas Rapaport in a one day only re-vote on April 7 for the Science Representative to claim the last spot on the Simon Fraser Student Society Board of Directors. He defeated Rapaport by a vote count of 541 to 444.
He joins Health Science Representative Raajan Garcha as the only candidates from the Bridge the Gap slate to win their seats. Rapaport failed to complete the sweep for Connected, as every other Connected candidate won their seat in the original election which took place in March.
Dhesa was studying at the Surrey campus with friends when he found out, and the news caught him off guard when it broke around midnight.
“I didn’t expect the results to come out until the morning after,” said Dhesa. “All of a sudden, our phones started blowing up and then Raajan calls and she’s like, ‘Check the SFSS website right now.’
“As soon as we checked it, we started flipping out. Everyone in the room was screaming and people thought that something happened. I guess people around the campus started coming and looking in the room and asked ‘Are you guys okay?’ It was an amazing moment.”
It took a little longer than he would have liked, with the original election ending in 280 votes for each candidate, ending in a historic tie and leaving the Independent Electoral Commission no choice but to call a re-vote. However, any plans to celebrate will have to be put on hold, as he’s now firmly in exam mode.
“We had the first elections, in which I budgeted all my time for, and then I said to myself that no matter what, win or lose, I’m going to put all my time towards studying,” he said. “[With a second campaign] I didn’t have time to study, so now I’m going to hit the books once I get home.
“The celebration will be delayed until after finals.”
The time for celebration will have to short though, as come May 1, the new Board of Directors for the SFSS will be taking on their new roles, and starting their efforts to fulfil their campaign promises for the coming year.
