This year’s elections continue a worrying trend which has been progressing since 2022
Matt Shipley (he/him) // Coordinating Editor
Freya Emery (she/her) // Illustrator
The current Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) General Election is underway, with voting occurring from March 12 to 14. At time of writing, the election process has already seen thirteen official decisions from the Elections Administrator, including one disqualification, one appeal, and multiple high-profile warnings.
On March 7, the Elections Administrator responded to a complaint regarding candidate Michael Vu, alleging that Vu engaged the complainant with threatening and disparaging comments after the complainant refused to support Vu’s nomination. In an attached email, Vu disparages the complainant’s academic achievements, makes derogatory remarks about the complainant’s home country and threatens to take action with the complainant’s employer. The email can be found here, attached to the decision by the Elections Administrator.
Consequent to Michael Vu’s actions, citing a section of CSU Policy BD-06 concerning respect, the Elections Administrator officially disqualified Vu from participating in the 2024 General Election. Vu later appealed this decision through an approved third-party arbitration panel, citing an unusually late complaint and response to the offense, which occurred on Feb. 28. This appeal was recently processed, reversing Vu’s disqualification but prohibiting him from campaigning during the remainder of the election cycle.
In a similar vein, Sarang Deep Singh was under fire on March 9 for threatening messages that he posted to his Instagram story. These messages were motivated by the removal of some of Singh’s posters at CapU Residence, and contained the capitalized words “I WILL FIND YOU,” along with other intimidating comments. Screenshots of these Instagram stories, along with the decision by the Elections Administrator, can be found here.
Singh was ordered to remove the posts in question and to refrain from posting any inflammatory content for the remainder of his campaign, but he remains a candidate in the election. Whether his posters continue to be removed is unknown as of writing.
Along with these two decisions, a number of complaints and decisions were made regarding the breach of several minor election rules by multiple candidates. It should be noted that all candidates attend a mandatory meeting before campaigning starts, where election regulations and the consequences for breaching them are outlined.
This year’s switch to in-person voting was made to reduce the issue of intimidation during the campaign period. While candidates were previously barred from campaigning in and around the library lounge where voting occurs, constant breaches of this rule have led to candidates being completely banned from stepping foot on library premises until the election concludes. No official information regarding the breaches or the candidates involved is available at time of writing.
Voting will continue through Thursday, March 14. Students are encouraged to submit complaints directly to the Elections Administrator, and any tips regarding elections misconduct can be emailed to the Courier team at editor@capilanocourier.com.
March 13, 21:05
Two more candidates have been disqualified from the election today, both for reasons related to campaigning in the library. Neither have yet appealed the decision.
Amrit Makkar was seen campaigning in the library building along with an accomplice, Khushpreet Kaur, on March 12, in clear violation of the previously stated rules. The Elections Administrator issued a private warning to both Makkar and Kaur following the event. The next day, however, the Elections Administrator received another complaint regarding Kaur campaigning in the library on Makkar’s behalf. Due to this continued blatant disregard for the rules, Makkar was promptly disqualified. Kaur, in consequence, will also be banned from campaigning for any candidate or running in this election cycle, as well as the subsequent one. Both will have 48 hours from the time of the decision to submit an appeal. Details regarding this decision can be found here.
Today’s second ruling involved candidates Abhijit Rai and Parteek Singh. Both were seen aggressively campaigning outside the library building on March 12, after the Elections Administrator had issued a ban on such actions. Additionally, the Administrator personally saw Singh speaking to students outside the library on March 12 and 13, and warned him multiple times that what he was doing was contravening the rules. Rai was not present for these incidents.
According to the report, “aggressive campaigning and candidate presence in and around the library has been a serious problem in this election and in this regard Parteek has been one of the worst offenders.” Due to this, and to the fact that he has been warned multiple times, Singh has been disqualified from this election. As with all Elections Administrator decisions, he will have 48 hours to appeal this decision. Further details are provided here.
March 16, 2024
Gurjot Singh, a campaigner not running for election, has officially been disqualified from participating in all future CSU elections due to a continued, malicious disregard for election integrity.
Gurjot Singh has been seen campaigning in the library, campaigning in support of multiple candidates, and campaigning inappropriately during this election cycle. Given multiple in-person warnings, including a sanction for campaigning in the voter lineup, Singh continued his misdemeanors.
Gurjot Singh was, importantly, also disqualified during the last election for a serious incident of voter intimidation. Due to this, and due to Singh’s blatant disregard for election integrity, there remained no other option but to bar him from all future elections.
There has been no public investigation into the slate of candidates that Singh was supporting as of Mar. 19, 2024.
March 26, 2024
Multiple candidate disqualifications have been announced.
The candidates disqualified in the latest update include: Prabh Gill, Angad Brar, Akamjot Boparai, and Maninder Singh.
Candidates have been prohibited (alongside Amar Gill) from participating in the next two election cycles.