University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) presidential candidate Fatima Shabir has been penalized for engaging in negative campaigning, according to the chief returning officer (CRO) Jodie Smith.
The incident occurred during the UMSU presidential forum on Feb. 25 in UMSU University Centre.
Shabir mentioned on three different occasions that the UMSU executives in the past few years were “incompetent,” per the CRO ruling. The ruling states that in one of those instances, the executive during the past year was singled out.
“Our executive for the past year has been so incompetent,” said Shabir during the forum. “These people are not going to do anything for you. I hope you guys understand that.”
Shabir later stated, “we are closer to bankruptcy then ever, and remember, if anything like this happens and the incompetence continues and your finances are going toward the things they shouldn’t be, the only person that is going to be getting bad things from it is you.”
The CRO ruling further states that Shabir was “frequently laughing” when one of the candidates who had been on the executive in the past year was speaking. Shabir is running against Robert Johannson and Prabhnoor Singh who previously served as UMSU vice-president external affairs.
In a statement to the Manitoban after the ruling, Shabir said, “I apologize if my passion for change was taken as an insult to any specific candidate(s). I did not mean to be critical of my opponents or any other candidate, but instead of an organization which has continued to disappoint the students who pay for its services.
“I think it is important that students-at-large and candidates for UMSU executive positions alike are able to both compliment and criticize the union which is meant to represent us,” she said. “In the forum, I talked about what I have heard other students think are issues with UMSU, trying to elevate student concerns while promoting my solutions to them. I think that criticism is part of a healthy democracy, especially within an election.”
The 2025 UMSU general election nomination package states that negative campaigning is not permitted and will be subject to penalty, including disqualification.
The nomination package defines negative campaigning as materials, comments and/or advertisements that focus on attacking specific candidates, as opposed to highlighting the merits of one’s own candidacy.
“An example of negative campaigning might include any implication about ‘other’ candidates or campaigns, even if they are not named specifically,” according to the nomination package.
The CRO ruling indicates that candidates running for other positions came to the her after the event “to express their discomfort with this behaviour.” It also states that candidates expressed “their feelings of fear going into their own forums that something like that could happen to them too.”
Shabir was penalized with 40 demerits — 10 for each instance of negative campaigning during the presidential forum.
“I believe the penalty imposed by the CRO is harsh,” said Shabir. “I have no plans other than to continue in the race in good faith and to abide by the election rules while sharing my platform to students.”
The UMSU Election Manual states that the CRO will assign demerits for violations of the election rules. A candidate will be disqualified if they accumulate 50 demerits.
