KSA bars 2026 election candidates from speaking to media
Students can vote in person on Feb. 12 and 13 at all KPU campuses
Polling will take place in person at all KPU campuses on Feb. 12 and 13 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. (Nyamat Singh/Sofiya Lobkova)
The Kwantlen Student Association is holding its 2026 general elections this month. The campaign period for all eligible candidates ends Feb. 11 at 11:59 pm.
As part of its electoral procedure regulations, the KSA has barred The Runner from interviewing election candidates.
“A candidate will be disqualified if they publish news articles on their candidacy or platform, engage in interviews with news outlets once the period for nominations is opened, or request a news outlet to publish an article or endorsement on their candidacy or platform. For the purpose of this Clause, news outlets include any student newspaper,” the electoral procedures read.
The regulation change was introduced in December 2024 as part of a recommendation from the KSA’s legal counsel Miller Thomson LLP.
At a council meeting on Jan. 29, KSA Executive Director Timothii Ragavan said The Runner was “more than welcome to join the Birch 250 room and ask candidates for any statements.”
But after hearing from a few election candidates, The Runner learnt they were barred from speaking to the student newspaper for individual interviews regarding their candidacy and could only give “general statements” regarding the elections.
The voting period will run from Feb. 12 to 13 with polling stations open from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on both days on all KPU campuses. To vote, students must go to the polling stations in person with their physical KPU student ID.
The deadline for candidate statements was Jan. 31. The statements were not posted on the KSA’s website by publication date.
KPU students can vote for five campus representative positions: Civic Plaza, Cloverdale, Langley, Richmond, and Surrey. One candidate will be elected for each position.
There are seven constituency representative seats for one candidate each to be elected to. These representative positions include Indigenous, international, mature, queer, women’s, students of colours, and students with disabilities.
Faculty representatives have 13 open seats: three arts representatives, two science and horticulture representatives, and five business representatives, as well as one representative each for design, health, and trades and technology.
To learn about the general election candidates and their campaigns, visit
