By Amira Benjamin

The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) has declared the 2025 fall by-election results of their executive candidates null and void.

According to an email sent to The Eyeopener at 12:06 a.m. on Saturday, the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) has ruled the “results of the Executive Candidates vote are fully null and void”  due to alleged “serious nature of the allegations and the complexity of the evidence and analysis” of violations of the Elections Procedures Code (EPC) by executive candidates.

According to Section 8.3.5.2., the CRO has the ability to “Declare that an election in a particular Constituency be ruled void, should the violation be sufficiently severe.”

The CRO published 13 rulings pertaining to outstanding complaints of by-election conduct onto the elections page, in additions to pre-existing ones.

In the email, TMSU’s co-interim executive director, Scott Miller Berry, stated there was no similar ruling issued for the director candidates vote. 

Candidates and slates are given a 48-hour window to file appeals.

“We are aware that members will have questions about how the CRO’s ruling will impact the outcome of the By-Election as a whole, but it would be premature to speculate until the complaints and appeal process is complete.”

The 2025 spring general election was also declared void, as previously reported by The Eye, due to multiple complaints. TMSU’s board of directors proposed a motion to postpone the fall by-election until spring 2026 at the Special General Meeting but it failed, as previously reported by The Eye.

The fall by-election voting period ran from Nov. 25-27, due to a technical delay. Unofficial results have yet to be released.