Your Concordia and Action pledge to reform elections

Your Concordia and Action will be working together throughout the next month in developing a series of reforms to the electoral process to present at May’s council meeting. President-elect Lex Gill and former Action president hopeful Khalil Haddad signed an agreement Friday stating their willingness to work together in order to reform a process which they say hurts all parties involved – including students.
The one page letter outlines their intent to focus on the CSU’s bylaws and standing regulations regarding the slate system, arts and science representation, campaign expenses, and financial transparency. Gill was particularly emphatic about their decision to abolish affiliation between council and the executive. “The slate system has to go,” she said. “It creates a winner take all system. It pits people who would normally be working together against each other.”
The decision was mutual, according to Gill, and came after dialogue opened between the two slates in the days following the election. She said the agreement was part of a “healing process” in an attempt to move past the allegations made throughout the elections. “[We want] to make sure the kind of elections we experienced this year never happens again,” she said. “Everyone has come out of this feeling a little sore and wrong and [we want] to move past that.”
With that in mind, they agreed not to file any further contestations, but to allow a recount to be performed if requested.
Haddad called the decision a difficult one. However, he said ultimately “We want to look back at this moment and have no regrets.”
“I said throughout the campaign that I was willing to work with whoever wins, and I think we can be 10 times stronger if we work together,” he declared.
At this point, Haddad has no specific commitment or role within the CSU, beyond wanting to continue his involvement on campus. “I’m someone who was involved from day one at Concordia and I want to continue that way in whatever capacity,” he said.
This year marked the first time candidates for ASFA ran unaffiliated, and coincided with a poor voter turnout. However, Gill said the two weren’t necessarily related, pointing out that it “hadn’t been a very political year at ASFA” and that CSU elections have also seen consistently low turnout in past years.
To read the document, click here:
Agreement signed by Lex Gill and Khalil Haddad