The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) closed its executive by-election polls for the Vice-President (VP) Student Life and VP Sustainability and Operations roles on Nov. 29. The by-election voting window was nine days long, starting on Nov. 20. 10.7 per cent of SSMU’s constituency cast a vote, meaning that the vote failed to make the quorum of 15 per cent, leaving the positions remaining vacant.
Justice Bongiovanni and Alice Postovskiy were competing for the VP Student Life position, which was left unfilled after Chloé Muñoz’s resignation on Oct. 29. Bongiovanni, U1 Arts, ran with the campaign slogan, “Vote for change, vote for Justice.” His campaign included proposals to invest $10,000 CAD to help students facing food insecurity and funding more affordable extracurricular courses to teach career development skills.
Bongiovanni wrote to The Tribune that although he enjoyed being a part of the SSMU electoral process, he found the results of the election disappointing.
“The fact that the by-election was nullified is a shame for [the] 10.7 per cent of students that took part, and democratically problematic,” Bongiovanni wrote. “However, I want all students to remember that an executive general election is coming relatively soon, despite this situation, and that their voices still count.”
The other candidate, Postovskiy, U3 Arts, ran on a platform that included maintaining SSMU services for students, helping streamline SSMU finances, and improving clarity for student groups on the union’s regulations.
In a comment to The Tribune, Postovskiy wrote that she believes that SSMU’s Internal Regulations do not outline a quorum for executive by-elections. Postovskiy added that she asked the SSMU Chief Electoral Officer to release the results of the election, but was refused. She plans to bring this issue to the SSMU Judicial Board if the student union does not revert their decision to nullify the election.
“Beyond just the by-election, this echoes a trend at the SSMU of not taking student democracy seriously,” Postovskiy wrote.“The McGill Student Union Democratization Initiative Policy, passed by referendum in 2021, has not been implemented. There have been various controversies with the SSMU failing to adopt policies passed by referendum, notably last year’s Policy against the Genocide in Palestine [….] It is unfortunately not clear to me what the McGill student body can do to achieve democratic control over its student union.”
Neither the Internal Regulations nor SSMU’s Constitution specify a specific quorum for executive by-elections. Thus, the question will go to the union’s Judicial Board. SSMU President Dymetri Taylor, wrote to The Tribune that if the Board rules there is no quorum, that could lead to an undermining of student democracy as—in an extreme case—a single voter could determine the outcome of an election.
Kareem El Hosini and Arya Cheuk were competing for the VP Sustainability and Operations role, following Meg Baltes’ announcement that she will be resigning effective Dec. 13. El Hosini (U3 Engineering)’s campaign slogan was “Efficiency. Transparency. Enrichment.” El Hosini promised to improve underused spaces, revitalize McGill’s community garden, and bring more affordable and accessible food to campus.
“I’m disappointed that [people] don’t care enough to vote but I also understand why they don’t. I’ve noticed that [people] typically feel indifferent towards or don’t like [SSMU] in general due to past actions,” wrote El Hosini.
Cheuk, U1 Arts and Science, had a campaign slogan of “Vote Arya for a Greener Area.” Cheuk hoped to improve composting on campus and to encourage clubs to get sustainability certificates.
In a comment to The Tribune, Cheuk described the election results as anti-climactic. She attributed the low voter turnout to students’ disinterest in student politics and the election’s timing coinciding with finals season.
“I am happy I had the opportunity to run as a candidate, and that so many had come together to help nominate me in such a short [time]. I am apologetic that I could not materialize their support,” Cheuk wrote.
Taylor wrote that he was not surprised that the election did not meet quorum, as SSMU has struggled to get high numbers of students to participate in elections, compared to universities such as the University of British Columbia.
“Clubs, services, and other groups that rely on SSMU will experience a slowdown in operations as the tasks [of the vacant positions] are distributed to other executives,” Taylor wrote. “So far, I’ve been working very closely with the services to create a better structure for them and, hopefully, provide them with some financial freedom vis-a-vis the VP of Finance & bank accounts [….] We have chugged along and will continue to do so.”
