By Dexter LeRuez
Five election rulings have been issued by the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union’s (TMSU) chief returning officer (CRO) ahead of the 2024 voting period.
The election’s campaigning period began on Feb. 28 and will culminate in three voting days from March 6 to 8.
According to the students’ union’s Election Rulings webpage, 49 more demerit points were issued among one candidate and two slates—including 34 demerit points against the Students Leading Change team.
Section 8.3.8.4 of the Elections Procedures Code states that if a slate receives 35 or more demerit points, their candidates will be automatically disqualified from the election. The Students Leading Change slate is one point away from disqualification.
As previously reported by The Eyeopener, the CRO and the Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC) had issued eight rulings, resulting in 15 demerit points for vice president student life candidate Ozi Molokwu.
Students Leading Change Slate
According to rulings CRO#005, CRO#006 and CRO#007, the Students Leading Change slate has been issued 34 demerit points for various infractions of the Elections Procedures Code.
According to the TMSU’s Candidate Statement webpage, the Students Leading Change slate consists of presidential candidate Aleksander Strazisar, vice president operations candidate Ariana Zuniga, vice president student life candidate Meia Mathura, vice president equity candidate Patricia Doan and vice president education candidate Hetu Patel.
According to ruling CRO#005, the slate was found guilty of pre-campaigning by posting a video on social media ahead of the campaigning period that encouraged viewers to look at a blog post that was “used to solicit votes for the candidates in the slate.” Additionally, candidates of the slate shared the blog post link on most of their social media accounts.
Pre-campaigning is a violation of section 8.1.1 of the Elections Procedures Code and can warrant up to 20 demerit points. The CRO issued 17 demerit points to the Students Leading Change slate.
According to CRO#006 the slate was also found guilty of violations of fair play and campaign materials.
According to the ruling, Students Leading Change made negative comments on social media platforms regarding past executives, full-time and part-time staff. The ruling adds that the comments are “attacking the integrity of low level, non-public individuals.”
Section 8.1.9.3 of the Elections Procedures Code states that attacking, bullying or harassing non-public individuals is prohibited.
Additionally, the ruling states that the slate’s website included a Toronto Metropolitan University logo. The TMSU requested that the slate remove the logo from their website on two separate occasions. However, as of March 2, the logo had not been removed from the website, according to the ruling. The Eye could not find any evidence of this on the Students Leading Change website as of March 5.
According to section 8.1.6 of the Elections Procedures Code, “it is the responsibility of the Candidates to ensure that all Campaign methods, Campaign Materials and advertisements conform to all policies and regulations of the TMSU and the University.”
Section 8.3.7.3 of the Elections Procedures Code states that violations of fair play involving a failure to comply with the spirit and purpose of the code can warrant up to 20 demerit points. However, the CRO only issued 12 demerit points to the Students Leading Change slate.
Ruling CRO#007 states that the slate was found guilty of multiple campaign material violations.
According to the ruling, multiple of the slate’s campaign posters were placed less than one foot away from the posters of other slates and that multiple of these instances were within ten metres of one another.
According to section 8.1.22 of the Elections Procedures Code, posters may not overlap with other candidates’ campaign materials.
Section 8.3.7.1 of the Elections Procedures Code states that multiple campaign material violations within 10 metres can warrant up to eight demerit points. However, the CRO issued just five demerit points to the slate.
Team Celestial Slate
According to ruling CRO#008, the Team Celestial slate was found guilty of multiple campaign material violations within the same building.
According to the students’ union’s Candidate Statements webpage, the Team Celestial slate consists of presidential candidate Nadir Janjua, vice president operations candidate Muhammad Awais, vice president student life candidate Koby Biya, vice president equity candidate Hafsa Iqbal and vice president education candidate Aneesa Masood.
According to the ruling, the slate placed campaign posters in such a way that they overlapped or were attached to other campaign materials.
The CRO issued five demerit points to the slate, the maximum allowed for multiple campaign material violations in the same building, according to section 8.3.7.1 of the Elections Procedures Code.
Ozi Molokwu
According to ruling CRO#009 vice president student life candidate Molokwu was found guilty of unapproved campaign materials and multiple other violations.
In addition to overlapping campaign materials and placing them within one foot of other candidates’ materials, Molokwu did not have her posters stamped by the CRO office—something that was clearly stated to all candidates as necessary several times, according to the ruling.
Section 8.3.7.1 of the Elections Procedures Code states that using unapproved campaign posters can warrant up to 15 demerit points. However, the CRO issued just 10 demerit points to Molokwu.
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