Chief Electoral Officer Colby Briggs has dismissed an attempt to have A Stronger ASFA, one of the parties running in this week’s ASFA elections, disqualified from the election.
The contestations, originally filed by New Energy campaign manager, Beisan Zubi, alleged that Charles Brenchley and Anna Goldfinch, who are running for President and VP external, were working on behalf on the Canadian Federation of Students and had received help from the group.
After the charges were dismissed by Briggs, Aaron Green and Alexa Newman, who are standing with the Innovation party, appealed the decision to ASFA’s judicial committee. The allegations cited the similarity of A Stronger ASFA’s campaign posters to those of other pro-CFS groups at different schools, and that Goldfinch was dating current CFS executive Noah Stewart-Ornstein, and is the sister of former Concordia student union vice president and CFS-Quebec board member, Colin Goldfinch.
The judicial council unanimously upheld Briggs’ ruling late Monday evening.
Brenchley expressed relief at the ruling, but disatisfaction with the timing. “I think the timing is completely unfair to us. This is the last day of campaigning, and we were only told about this four hours before the meeting. And I think its a real shame that this is what people have come down to. It’s petty politics.”
Green expressed disappointment at the ruling, but said he accepted it. “The CFS, they play this game, and they invented this game, and they’re very good at covering up the evidence. But I respect the ruling of the judicial council, and we’re glad we gave the judical council the chance to make these elections more transparent.”
The New Energy party has also filed a contestation with Briggs, claiming that Innovation, along with the CSU, has attempted to pressure them to drop out of the election.
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