By Daniel Opasinis
The 2025 Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) general elections have been paused until further notice.
A statement released on the TMSU website indicates the election period is being postponed as a result of “circumstances beyond TMSU’s control.” It also reads, “the ERC was recently notified that the online voting platform traditionally used in TMSU elections will not be available this year.”
New dates for the election have yet to be decided on, according to an emailed statement to The Eyeopener from the TMSU’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Tatiana Carrion. Candidates were made aware of the postponement on Sunday night, less than 24 hours before the voting period was set to begin.
Though the TMSU said this year’s campaigning period was scheduled specifically to avoid overlap with Ramadan—as previously reported by The Eye—this postponement may now cause the revised general election dates to conflict with Ramadan.
Ananya Malhotra, a third-year business technology management student running for vice-president of student life under the slate Transparency, told The Eye she was “furious” and “sad” when she first learned about the delay.
“If you look at our social media, then it reflects the immense effort we had put into creating content, also spreading awareness about elections,” she said. “We wanted some more clear answers but I don’t think [the CRO] was able to provide.”
Carrion said online campaigning will stop at 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 23, and nominees must remove printed campaign materials by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 25.
Elisha Mhernell Filomeno*, a third-year marketing management student running for vice-president of equity with the slate Transparency, said the decision to postpone the election disappointed her. “It was really frustrating, because there was a lot of excitement and hype,” she said.
Filomeno said she was also disappointed by the lack of communication from election officials to candidates. “We have to reschedule a lot of things—adjust all our graphics, social media and even take stuff down,” she added.
No information regarding when the election period will resume has been released at the time of publication.
*Correction: A previous version of this story included a misspelt version of a source’s name. The story has now been updated with the correct spelling. The Eye regrets this error.
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