Last Friday saw the first all-candidates meeting for the 2014 UMSU general elections.
Slates and community representatives were officially announced at the meeting, held in the UMSU council chambers. The end of the meeting was also the last opportunity for executives seeking re-election to step down from their positions.
Nominations for all positions were cast as of 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14.
Slates running for executive positions:
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Al Turnbull – president
Rebecca Kunzman – Vice-president (VP) advocacy
Jeremiah Kopp – VP internal
Christian Pierce – VP external
Daria Lukie – VP student services
Team Fusion
Charly Wreggit – president
Monica Igweagu – VP advocacy
Victoria Watkins – VP internal
Dana Hatherly – VP external
Ronghzao Li – VP student services
You Matter
Kyra Wilson – president
Clyford Sinclair – VP internal
Community Representatives:
International Students
Astitwa Thapa
Munashe Gudu
Students Living with Disabilities
Rocco Scarcella
Matthew Riesmeyer
LGBTT*
Steven Anderson
Only two members of the current UMSU executive—president Al Turnbull and VP external Christian Pierce—are re-running for their positions.
Turnbull declined to comment on the lineup change, but noted that himself and Pierce only officially stepped down from their positions on the day of the all-candidates meeting.
Kopp, on the other hand, had officially stepped down from his position as UMSU council chair by Feb. 10. He was not the sitting chairperson at that day’s UMSU council meeting, and an email distributed by Turnbull to council members notes that Kopp had stepped down for “personal reasons.”
Kopp told the Manitoban last Friday that he chose to step down as soon as he was committed to running for election.
Conspicuously absent from the meeting were candidates for the Aboriginal students representative and women’s representative positions. According to CRO Jacqueline Keena, there were no candidates for those positions.
“Nominations for those positions will be held over until Friday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.,” Keena told the Manitoban.
While candidate and slate names are now publicly available, candidates are not allowed to begin campaigning. February 18-23 is considered a “pre-campaign” period, and promoting one’s platform before or during that period will result in budget reduction penalties by the CRO’s office.
