The Results: The 2010 KSA Election
Right before the ‘extended reading break,’ the Kwantlen Student Association held its annual election. Here are the results. Why should you care? These are the people who will decide how your student fees are spent, and how much you could be paying in the future.
By Chris Yee [Student Affairs Bureau Chief]
February’s KSA general election saw incumbents reshuffling into new positions, but also a spate of new officials – including new External Affairs, Finance, and Academic Directors – being elected into office.
A total of 320 votes were cast in the elections, which ran from Feb. 8 to 11. According to Derek Robertson, the election results were released to the public Feb. 15, although the document was dated Feb. 12.
In the running for the Director of External Affairs and Finance positions, incumbents ran but were defeated by new challengers. Incumbent Director of External Affairs Derek Robertson was defeated by Matt Todd, who was a White Rock city councillor for six years, according to an interview published in the February 9, 2010 issue of The Runner. Steve Lee’s nearly four year streak as Director of Finance, dating from the court-ordered election of October 2006, was broken by fourth-year accounting student Shanal Prasad. Robertson received 129 votes to Todd’s 156, while Lee received 128 votes to Prasad’s 155.
Ashley Rose Fehr left her position of Director of Academic Affairs, which she held since the 2008 election, to pursue the Director of Operations seat, going on to win it. Fehr received 126 votes to Greg K. Procknow’s 47 votes and Sarah Williams’ 120 votes.
The now-empty position of Director of Academic Affairs became a battleground for a spate of new candidates. Bradley Head won the seat, receiving 122 votes to Matthew DiMera’s 115 votes and Ken McIntyre’s 53 votes.
Reena Bali was acclaimed to the position of Director of Events, receiving 231 “Yes” to 60 “No” votes.
The Surrey Campus Council candidates were largely uncontested, with both the Campus Representative and the Campus Director candidates being acclaimed into their positions.
A maximum of four Representatives were available on Surrey campus. The candidates for the Surrey Campus Representatives were Karamveer Dhillon (with 79 “Yes” votes to 37 “No” votes), Harman Mann (76 “Yes” to 39 “No” votes), Erick Nguyen (90 “Yes” to 40 “No” votes), and Pavanpreet Sodhan (72 “Yes” to 32 “No” votes). Harman Mann was the only incumbent on the list, from the 2009 general election.
Sean “Obama” Bassi was acclaimed to the position of Surrey Campus Director, receiving 109 “Yes” votes to 37 “No” votes. He ran for and was voted Surrey Campus Representative in the 2009 election.
Meanwhile, in the running for the Richmond Campus Council positions, the Richmond Campus Representative seats saw some competition. Three positions were available, with Thinesh Balasubranamiam (with 29 votes), Nicole Joe (with 54 votes), and Arash Samari (with 30 votes) winning the seats. Gaven Pangley was left out, with only 22 votes. Nicole Joe was a Campus Officer for two terms prior to this year’s (in the 2009 and 2008 elections).
Harj Dhesi, a Campus Representative in the 2008 elections, was acclaimed to Richmond Campus Director, with 58 “Yes” to 19 “No” votes.
Notably, Richmond was the only campus where a Campus Officer had run during this year’s general election. Julia Vo was acclaimed to the position, with 64 “Yes” votes to 15 “No” votes.
As for the Langley Campus Council positions, Jennifer Campbell was elected for what will be her third term as Langley Campus Director since the 2008 general election, with 36 votes to Derek Takahashi ‘s 27.
The running for the Langley Campus Representative positions was uncontested, with the two candidates, Balninnia Sandhu (29 “Yes”, 11 “No” votes) and Amy Singh (34 “Yes”, 9 “No” votes), being acclaimed to the positions.
The multi-campus director positions saw an influx of new candidates – indeed, more so than the 2009 and 2008 elections.
The running for the Liaison positions was far more sedate, with largely no challengers for the incumbents. Incumbents for the Women’s and Mature Liaisons retained their positions, with 210 “Yes” to 68 “No” votes for Women’s Liaison Nousha Bayrami, and 223 “Yes” to 56 “No” votes for Mature Liaison Robert Kovacic.
The International Students’ Liaison candidate, newcomer Gurbraksh Dhaliwhal, received 222 “Yes” to 56 “No” votes.
No one ran for the Students of Colour Liaison, First Nations Liaison, Queer Liaison, or the Students with Disabilities Liaison in the 2010 election, pending appointment by a motion of council.
