No stress for Sran?
UMSU election mostly uncontested
JENELLE PETRINCHUK STAFF
UMSU elections are here once again and the race is on. However, due to the lack of competition this year, it probably won’t be much of a photo-finish ending.
This year all executive candidates are running completely uncontested, including current UMSU president Garry Sran, who is running for his second term in a row. Sran said he is concerned about not having any competition.
“Having a contested election furthers debate and discussion on issues that affect all students,” he said.
Patrick Smith, a U of M student who ran for the position of president last year, wishes someone ran against Sran for a different reason: he wasn’t pleased with UMSU over the past term.
“[Sran]’s first term was very controversial,” said Smith. Smith further argued that Sran has been antagonistic towards the university’s administration and has damaged students’ credibility in the process.
Smith also mentioned that previously UMSU has focused too much on lowering tuition fees in Manitoba. He was hoping to see that change. “They’re running the risk of becoming a one-trick-pony.”
Sran’s current campaign platform includes issues such as making UMSU more environmentally friendly as well as expanding UMSU services and businesses. Tuition will not get left in the dark, however.
“Tuition is an issue that affects all students,” said Sran, adding that he will continue lobbying for lower education costs over his second term.
The first uncontested UMSU election in years could be related to the new election bylaws and executive positions. The composition of the UMSU executive was changed in 2005 to include a president and four vice-presidents, instead of just one vice-president.
“It’s extremely difficult to run a five-person slate,” Smith said, adding that this makes the election inaccessible to the student body.
Sran agreed that the five-person executive could be a factor in the lack of competition.
“We’re definitely going to look at UMSU bylaws and work with council to see how we can actually change the electoral bylaws to make it easier for students to get more involved and engaged.”
Rachel Heinrichs, vice-president (advocacy) candidate, said that although the executive is made up of five people, it isn’t more difficult to run for office as an independent.
“We do have some similar ideas of things we want to happen, but then we also bring our own flavour, if you will, to each position and we all have our own initiatives,” she said, adding she thinks the main reason students aren’t running is because they are simply too busy.
All community representatives are also running uncontested, except for those running for international students community representative, in which two candidates are up for the prize: Wang Dai Xin and Toyin Malumi.
Malumi, originally from Nigeria, has been in Canada for almost five years and has never felt like she’s had a proper voice in the university. She thinks the reason there is actually a competition for the position is because international students need a louder voice.
“There has been a lot of change, especially with tuition and a lot of international students begin to wonder if anybody is out there to get our message to the university,” she said. “We just don’t want the position to be vacant.”
No one is running for aboriginal students representative. CRO Caitlin Brown suggested at the nomination deadline meeting on Feb. 9 that an extended deadline for this position might be possible.
Campaigning will continue as usual for all candidates and will last from the evening of Feb. 19 to March 2. Each executive candidate has a $400 campaign expense limit, while community representatives have $100.
U of M students will be able to vote from Feb. 28 to March 2 at one of 11 polling locations across U of M campuses — including one at the Bannatyne campus and one at the William Norrie Centre. There will be no advanced or mail-in polling this year due to the lack of need for it and low response rate last year, according to Brown.
