Written by: Michelle Gomez, Assistant News Editor
A candidate running for At-Large Representative in the 2020 SFSS elections publicly accused multiple other candidates of breaking campaign rules.
In a Facebook post, Geetanjli Sharma accused a number of candidates of running as a slate, or an electoral group with a common platform, which has not been permitted for the 2020 elections. Sharma referred to this slate as both the “purple and yellow slate” and the “progressive slate.” She further accused this group of collecting student contact information for the purpose of campaigning as far back as December 2019.
Sharma also noted that this campaigning was with the assistance of Giovanni HoSang, the current SFSS President.
Osob Mohamed, who is the current Health Sciences Representative and candidate for President made a Facebook post in response to the accusations, which included a response from one of the VP Student Services candidates, Matthew Provost.
In the response, Provost wrote, “I have been diligent around asking the IEC for all interpretations of every rule and to ensure that I do everything to the books as much as possible in relation to this campaign.”
HoSang said in a statement to The Peak, “it is clear who I endorsed during this election, just as it is clear who other Board members endorsed. Providing help to students is not against the rules and is a common occurrence by incumbent Board members and has been seen since forever.”
It is unfortunate that students who may not have been prepared to run in the SFSS elections try to smear other candidates who were prepared,” HoSang added.
Mohamed said in an email interview with The Peak, “I have been running my campaign well within the rules set by the IEC. I would also like to note that Geetanjli’s post was made on the last day of voting, which was certainly a campaigning tactic and attempt to smear and sway public opinion of a number of candidates rather than bring[ing] her concerns to IEC.”
Although the voting period ended on March 19, results for the election were delayed, and not announced until March 26.
In an email to The Peak regarding the delayed election results, the Independent Electoral Commissioner Alicen Lange said that there have been “a number of complaints about the manner in which certain members were campaigning.”
This story is developing and will be updated as new information becomes available.
