A combined average of just 7.6 per cent of students submitted ballots
It was with much anticipation that candidates and their teams of volunteers awaited the results of the 2021 University of Ottawa Students’ Union (UOSU) General Elections to drop on Saturday night.
Sadly, that anticipation was not shared by the University of Ottawa undergraduate students, as only 8.4 per cent of eligible students voted in the Board of Governors (BOG) and Senate races while an even lower 6.9 per cent voted in the UOSU Executive Committee and Board of Directors (BOD) races — a combined average of just 7.6 per cent.
In spite of the very low turnout, there were some positives on the night. Students who voted elected one of the most diverse slates of candidates in UOSU history, with BIPOC candidates elected in various positions across all four bodies. Another win on the night is for women of the university, as the University of Ottawa Senate student slate is now composed of an all-female team.
As for the results, Tim Gulliver was elected as the second-ever president of the UOSU. Gulliver, who was running unopposed, received 1,428 votes accepting his candidacy and 204 opposing it. Gulliver currently works as the UOSU’s advocacy commissioner and was a member of the Board of Directors for the faculty of social sciences in 2019-20. He was first elected in the UOSU’s 2019 by-election.
On the Board of Governor’s side, Hannan Mohamud was elected on the fourth round of ballots. Mohamud is a first-year common law student who currently works with professor Boulou Ebanda de B’béri’s office on anti-racism policy. She defeated second-place candidate Liam Roche (1010-693), Sana Alamansour placed third, Keziah Oduro fourth and Adam Walji fifth.
Going back to the UOSU Executive Committee, in the race to be the union’s next operations commissioner Nouria Sawadogo defeated Ratisbonne Kazadi 917-296. Lia Bosquet (francophone affairs commissioner), Armaan Kheppar (advocacy commissioner), Ashley Wunsch (student life commissioner) who all ran unopposed, were all easily elected with each receiving 90 per cent of the vote in their respective races. Finally, Amina El-Himri was re-elected to the position of student services commissioner. The only position that remains unfilled is the equity commissioner position — the elected Executive will appoint an interim commissioner when they begin their terms in May.
In the Senate races, every candidate who ran unopposed was successful. As for the contested races, Sam Yee defeated Mahée Côté 209-122 in the faculty of science race, Reana Agil beat Prisca Simporé 136-74 in the Telfer School of Management race and Julia Alvi came out on top over Zineb Jouali, Max Christie, Bryanna Lavictoire and Anjana Balachandran.
For the UOSU BOD elections, all candidates who were uncontested were also elected. In the faculty of health sciences, Anjolina Hamel and Victoria Paller were elected to the faculty’s two seats defeating Demetra Sainas and Lyazid El Fatouani. In the Telfer School of Management, Nora Al-Akwaa, Jean-Simon Lavoie-Albert and Maxime Chouinard were elected to the faculty’s three seats. In the gigantic race for the faculty of social sciences four seats, Henry Mann, Alexandra Cooper, Lewis Wilson, Sherouk Elasfar made the cut.
In addition to the elections, there was also a referendum on whether students wanted the UOSU to increase the levy given to the Office of the Ombudsperson by 42 cents per student each semester. The referendum passed with 1153 (62.5 per cent) students voting to increase the levy and 692 (37.5 per cent) voting against it.
For those interested in getting to further know their elected representatives, do not hesitate to go read the multiple pieces the Fulcrum published shining a spotlight on all the races for all the different elected bodies.
The detailed results of all elections are listed below.
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Full election results
Board of Governors
1- Hannan Mohamud — 566 votes — 1010 votes
2- Liam Roche — 487 votes — 693 votes
3- Sana Alamansour — 296 votes
4- Keziah Oduro — 190 votes
5- Adam Walji — 164 votes
UOSU Executive Committee
President
- Tim Gulliver — Yes 1,428 (87.5 per cent) / No 204 (12.5 per cent)
Advocacy commissioner
- Armaan Kheppar — Yes 1354 (90.4 per cent) / No 144 (9.6 per cent)
Student life commissioner
- Ashley Wunsch — Yes 1360 (91.0 per cent) / No 134 (9.0 per cent)
Operations commissioner
- Nouria Sawadogo — 917 votes
- Ratisbonne Kazadi — 296 votes
Student services commissioner
- Amina El-Himri — Yes 1416 (89.8 per cent) / No 161 (10.2 per cent)
Francophone affairs commissioner
- Lia Bosquet — Yes 1393 (91.2 per cent) / No 134 (8.8 per cent)
Senate (one seat for each faculty)
Faculty of law
- Michelle Liu — Yes 232 (85.9 per cent) / No 38 (14.1 per cent)
Faculty of medicine
- Maya Elkbouli — Yes 46 (79.3 per cent) /No 12 (20.7 per cent)
Faculty of arts
- Celina Seguin — Yes 177 (93.7 per cent) / No 12 (6.3 per cent)
Faculty of engineering
- Balkissa Toure — Yes 133 (83.1 per cent) / No 27 (16.9 per cent)
Telfer School of Management
- Reana Agil — 136 votes
- Prisca Simporé — 74 votes
Faculty of science
- Sam Yee — 209 votes
- Mahée Côté — 122 votes
Faculty of social sciences
- Julia Alvi — 216 votes — 280 votes
- Zineb Jouali — 97 votes — 143 votes
- Max Christie — 76 votes
- Anjana Balachandran — 72 votes
- Bryanna Lavictoire — 66 votes
UOSU Board of Directors
Faculty of civil law (one seat)
- Alexis Khouzam — Yes 89 (88.1 per cent) / No 12 (11.9 per cent)
Faculty of medicine (one seat)
- Toros Canturk — Yes 37 (80.4 per cent) / No 9 (19.6 per cent)
Faculty of health science (two seats)
- Anjolina Hamel — 57 votes — 96 votes
- Victoria Paller — 46 votes — 76 votes
- Lyazid El Fatouani — 46 votes — 49 votes
- Demetra Sainas — 23 votes
Faculty of arts (three seats)
- Linden Coles — Yes 151 (91.5 per cent) / No 14 (8.5 per cent)
- Allie Skwarchuk — Yes 153 (90.5 per cent) / No 16 (9.5 per cent)
Faculty of Engineering (three seats)
- Emma Ballantyne — Yes 110 (83.3 per cent) / No 22 (16.7 per cent)
Faculty of Science (three seats)
- Tarasha Sharma — 96 votes
- Buse Loçlar — 57 votes
- Albrightine Orsar — 40 votes
Telfer School of Management (three seats)
- Nora Al-Akwaa — 56 votes — 76 votes
- Jean-Simon Lavoie-Albert — 41 votes — 49 votes
- Maxime Chouinard — 38 votes — 44 votes
- Aziz Dhieb — 34 votes
Faculty of social sciences (four seats)
- Henry Mann 128 votes — 161 votes
- Alexandra Cooper 51 votes — 126 votes
- Lewis Wilson 77 votes — 108 votes
- Sherouk Elasfar 48 votes — 89 votes
- Dawoud Najmudin 41 votes
- Adshaya Shanmugathasan 40 votes
- Carson Baker 36 votes
- Samiatou Doumbia 36 votes
- Alaina Brunone 27 votes
