By Daniel Opasinis
The results of the 2025 Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) general election have been delayed at the advice of the Election Referenda Committee (ERC), according to a statement released on March 15.
Signed by the ERC, the statement reads, “a number of new complaints have been lodged within the past 24 hours, and there are some outstanding complaints that are serious in nature.”
The ERC is an impartial governing body whose job is to facilitate elections, amend the elections procedure code (EPC) as needed and hire all elections staff. The committee is also in charge of issuing official communications with the student body.
The statement comes as various slates in this year’s general election have been submitting a multitude of reports about each other’s conduct to the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Tatiana Carrion.
These reports include emails sent to the CRO on March 11—from member Aasim Ul Haq Khwaja of the Reform Now slate—alleging that members of Team Re-Elect were “actively instructing a student on how and who to vote for while looking at their screen.”
Member of team Student Power Trudy Kuropatwa sent the CRO multiple screenshots of Reddit comments on March 12, where students shared alleged experiences dealing with candidates campaigning on campus. One user claimed that members of an unidentified slate asked them if they could use the student’s phone to vote for themselves.
Kuropatwa wrote, “Here are a few anonymous reports from students, many of whom did not know how to report voter intimidation and do not have faith in the CRO.”
The Eyeopener has verified the existence of these emails and comments.
The statement from the ERC reads: “It is important to have a final determination and adjudication of election complaints prior to finalizing the election outcome,” and referenced section 11.3.2. of the Election Procedures Code (EPC).
The code declares that, “The ERC may delay the unofficial results with reasonable cause and a simple majority vote of the committee.”
Section 11.4.1. of the EPC states that the CRO must give official election results to the ERC no later than two weeks after the end of the election period. This year’s election period ended on March 12 at 5 p.m.
According to the EPC, in the event of a disqualification of the winning candidates, “the Board of Directors shall facilitate another election within two (2) weeks of the disqualification.”
The ERC has not yet announced when students can expect the general election results to be published.
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