By Jasmine Makar and Jerry Zhang
A total of 65 demerit points and seven Chief Returning Officer (CRO) rulings have been issued in the days leading before and on the first day of voting for the 2025 Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) general election.
The voting period began on March 10 at 10 a.m. and will end on March 12 at 5 p.m. following a last-minute postponement of the election’s campaigning period, as previously reported by The Eyeopener.
The total amount of demerit points before disqualification for executive candidates is 35 points and 20 points for board candidates, according to section 8.3.8 of the Election Procedures Code (EPC).
According to the CRO’s election rulings on the TMSU website, the Student Power slate currently holds 31 demerit points, with presidential candidate Akili Bernard receiving nine demerit points for pre-campaigning on Instagram, a violation of section 8.3.7.2 of the EPC. Six of those points allocated to the overall slate. Bernard is also the only presidential candidate with demerit points so far in the election.
Slate Visionaries has received 10 demerit points, Team Transparency has accumulated 12 demerit points and Independent candidate Sajid Elbattay—running for TMSU Engineering & Architectural Science Director—has received nine demerit points. Currently, team Re-Elect has no demerit points despite having a complaint submitted against them according to CRO#006.
Initial complaints made on Feb 16, 22 and 28 against the Student Power slate led to them receiving three separate rulings violations of EPC including CRO#001, CRO#002 and CRO#003.
17 out of the 31 demerit points assigned to Student Power were due to multiple violations of section 8.3.7.1 of the EPC, which prohibits posting unapproved materials, incorrect spacing between posters and putting up posters before the campaign period began.
After conducting an investigation, CRO concluded that Student Power engaged in pre-campaigning with materials that weren’t approved by the CRO prior to publication.
An additional eight points were issued for keeping posters up past the mandated time that the CRO had outlined in an email to candidates when the elections were postponed. These violations are under the same section 8.3.7.1 of the EPC.
Additionally, according to CRO#004, Team Transparency was accused of engaging in pre-campaigning due to the fact that their Instagram account was publicly accessible before the official campaigning period began, leading them to receive 12 points.
However, a Team Transparency candidate denied the allegations in an interview with TMSU election officials. As mentioned in the CRO ruling, Team Transparency members stated that “they did not make their Instagram account public at any point and that their posts were not visible on their page before the campaigning period started on March 6th at 10 a.m.”
Team Visionaries was assigned 10 points in CRO#007 for posting campaign material online without prior approval by the CRO. The CRO ruling stated the slate “acknowledged posting the material without sending it for approval.” Team Visionaries stated that they forgot this was the required process.
Team Re-Elect has not received any demerit points despite a complaint being filed against them under CRO#006, alleging that their posters were placed within one foot of each other and that they campaigned in unauthorized areas in the library and laboratories.
Following an investigation, the CRO ruled that candidates are permitted to place their posters close to those of the others within the same slate. Additionally, the CRO found insufficient evidence to allocate demerit points and noted that Team Re-Elect had submitted their campaign placements for approval in advance.
Section 8.1.2.3 of the EPC states “No Candidate may post one of their posters within one (1) foot (30.5cm) of another one of their Posters,” however does not outline the rules for posters of members of the same slate.
Independent Candidate Elbattay received nine demerit points for pre-campaigning. Cited section 8.3.7.1 in CRO#005 states “The CRO sent an email clearly outlining that campaigning was to resume no earlier than March 6th at 10 AM. Despite these instructions, the candidate’s Instagram page was made public, and posts were visible on March 5th at 7:57 PM.”
With 35 demerit points being the threshold for disqualification, Student Power remains the slate with the highest number of penalties at 31 points. Meanwhile, other slates, including Team Transparency and Team Visionaries, have accumulated violations, primarily for pre-campaigning and improper campaign material placement.
Candidates and slates have 48 hours to appeal any election rulings. The general election voting period will conclude on March 12 at 5 p.m.
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