A Better Concordia on Its Way

Photo Corey Pool

All of the A Better Concordia executive team was voted into office in the wee hours of March 24, making Schubert Laforest the preliminary Concordia Student Union president-elect.

When asked about the results, an exhausted Laforest replied by simply saying “Wow,” after almost seven hours of ballot-counting.

“We were going into this with the understanding that it could be a split executive, but knowing that it’s all of us is just amazing.”

While members of A Better Concordia hugged gleefully, the other team calculated which candidates fell within the recount range—that is, elections decided by fewer than 5 per cent of the votes, or, in cases where more than 2,000 votes are cast, fewer than 100 votes.

The presidential race between Concordia Could Be’s Mel Hotckiss and Laforest definitely will qualify. Hotchkiss trailed Laforest by a mere 28 votes.

“I haven’t wrapped my brain around it just yet,” Hotchkiss said. “I haven’t even been able to tell my team. That’s my number one priority right now.”

While some races were extremely close, others–like that between Alexis Suzuki and Lina Saigol for the position of VP Student Life–were not. Suzuki won by almost 300 votes, by far the greatest margin for any executive race this year.

“I’m very humbled,” said Suzuki. “It just makes me really happy that so many people supported me.”

In the sole fee levy question on the ballot, Le Frigo Vert also won with a clear majority and will benefit from an increase of $0.08 per credit from students.

More to come. With files from Adam Kovac, Corey Pool & Hilary Sinclair