Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union president Marina Gerges lost a Yes/No vote over whether she would reclaim the position after running uncontested in the 2023 election.
On March 21, the Eyeopener reported that Gerges alleged she was set up “to be caught drinking and driving,” 13 days into her term as TMSU president. An email from an undisclosed sender, sent to several TMU students, made the allegations. Gerges responded to in two Instagram videos.
“I’m not surprised by the results, with controversies as severe as drunk driving allegations I can understand why students were hesitant to re-elect Marina,” said Kassidy Mattera, a fourth-year media production student.
Team Revolt candidates won all of the remaining executive positions. Revolt member Mahira Shoaib was elected vice president operations, Abeeha Ahmad for vice president education, Trevohn Baker for vice president equity, and Kareena Bhatia won the race for vice president student life.
Four students running against Gerges were previously rendered “ineligible” after failing to meet the TMSU’s candidate eligibility requirements, such as not receiving enough nomination signatures.
The election’s final days came with many demerit points being deducted from multiple candidates for breaking TMSU election bylaws.
Vice president equity candidate Aya Bakir was deducted 15 points for cross-campaigning, by endorsing four candidates on the same webpage.
Team Ignite received eight demerit points for posting a video on its Instagram page without the #TMSUVotes hashtag, according to a March 24 ruling released by Chief Returning Officer (CRO) Adrian Aziz. Team Ignite claims that they did use the required hashtag, and will be filing an appeal.
Candidates have until March 26 at 10 p.m. to appeal the results, as per section 11.5.3.1 of the TMSU Election Procedure Code.
Gerges will remain president until the end of her term on April 30, 2023.
This story is developing.
Trevor Carter is a reporter for On The Record, Winter 2023.
