MUNSU announced the results of the by-election and media levy referendum this evening at The Breezeway.
The media levy referendum asked students, “Are you in support of raising the media levy fee from $4.00 per student per semester to $5.49 per student per semester with a yearly increase in accordance with the Consumer Price Index, effective September 2027?”
The referendum failed with 698 votes cast; 437 yes and 261 no.
In order for a referendum to pass, 10% of students on St. John’s Campus had to vote, totalling roughly 1,070 votes with two-thirds in favour.
As for the new additions to MUNUS’s Board of Directors, they are as follows:
Engineering Representative A:
Kingsley Apreku: 56
Jigisha Bedi: 45
Music Representative:
Olivia Massey; Yes: 19 No: 6
Students of Colour Representative:
Muhammad Aakaeid; Yes: 311 No: 65
Humanities and Social Sciences Representative:
Dumebi Damian; Yes: 125 No: 35
Paton College Representative:
Jaden Langdon; Yes: 47 No: 13
Business Representative:
Parneet Kaur; Yes: 39 No: 8
Queer Students Representative:
Jane Meadus; Yes: 368 No: 70
Medicine Representative:
Kiana Stacey: 29
Anna Froude: 12
Centre for Nursing Studies Representative:
Chioma Ehigie; Yes: 23 No: 4
Burton’s Pond Representative:
Omar Elgabry; Yes: 3 No: 3
Elgabry was not elected to the board due to requiring 50% of votes plus 1.
This by-election left eight positions vacant and they are:
- Humanities and Social Sciences Representative x2
- Human Kinetics and Recreation Representative
- Pharmacy Representative
- Trans Students’ Representative
- Indigenous Students’ Representative
- Burton’s Pond Representative
- MacPherson College Representative
The remaining vacant positions can be filled as per the MUNSU Bylaws.
Chief Returning Officer Russell Waye also announced that there were 753 ballots submitted, with 708 of those ballots being valid. The 45 invalid ballots were due to students voting multiple times, GSU, GCSU, and MISU students voting, and invalid student numbers.
Of all the candidates, only Queer Student Rep Jane Meadus and Students of Colour Rep Muhammad Aakaeid attended the announcement.