By Jasmine Makar
The campaigning dates for the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) annual general election will overlap with Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) reading week this year.
The campaigning period will run from Feb. 14 to 26 with voting taking place from Feb. 24 to 26. This timeline means most of this period will fall during reading week due to religious purposes, as stated by the TMSU.
In an emailed statement to The Eyeopener, the TMSU stated their reasoning for the scheduling conflict was in an effort to hold the election before Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and a holy month of fasting for those who participate.
“The holy month of Ramadan is likely to start from Feb. 28 to March 29…Therefore, this current timeline was the only time that seemed logistically feasible for this election period,” the statement read.
According to the TMSU by-laws section 8.2.1, elections must be held between Feb. 1 and March 31, giving the TMSU a nine-week window to determine their election timeline.
The 2022, 2023 and 2024 TMSU general elections were all hosted before or after reading week, though the 2023 election did have a three-day overlap with Ramadan from March 22 to March 24, 2023.
With consideration of the TMSU by-laws and the upcoming religious holiday, the TMSU’s statement explained that this year’s campaigning period being scheduled during reading week “is not a detriment to the proceedings” whole abiding by TMSU by-laws.
The statement also emphasized the increased use of social media for campaigning, adding that, “With the recent trends of candidates relying primarily on social media campaigns and less on posters and tabling, this should make no difference to the candidate’s outreach plans.”
Students can find more information on this year’s general election at yourtmsu.ca/about/election/.
Leave a Reply