Rykiss handily takes UMSU presidency

Voter turnout drops again

Photo provided by Jaron Rykiss

The 2022 UMSU executive board will consist of Jaron Rykiss as president, Tracy Karuhogo as vice-president student life, Victoria Romero as vice-president advocacy, Brook Rivard as vice-president finance and operations and Elishia Ratel as vice-president community engagement.

Rykiss said this victory is not about him alone.

“This is a victory for our student union,” he said in a written statement.

“Every volunteer, my policy team, my comms team, my campaign manager, Angela. I cannot wait to get started. I cannot wait to help build anUMSU students can be proud of. An UMSU for ALL.”

Rykiss secured the presidency with 63.6 per cent of votes, while Savannah Szocs earned 36.4 percent.

In 2021 the race was tighter, with current president Brendan Scott winning 51.4 per cent compared to his opponent Judith Oviosun’s 48.6 percent.

Voter turnout took another downturn, with only 3,453 out of 23,300 eligible voters, or 14.8%, participating. In contrast, turnout was 20.4 per cent in 2021 and 27.7 per cent in 2020, a drop of at least six per cent every year.

Kunal Rajpal won the race for international community representative with 60.6 per cent compared to Sahand Babaie’s 39.4 per cent.

Christine Yasay defeated Gulnaaz Dhillon for women’s community representative, with 66.4 and 33.6 per cent respectively.

Ishkode Catcheway (indigenous community representative),Alex Rana (2SLGBTQIA+ community representative), Anita Ayame (black community representative) and Caleigh Guillou (accessibility community representative)all ran unopposed and were all confirmed.