Important message about the SSMU March elections

Elections SSMU is an independent, non-partisan body. All decisions are made in accordance with the Internal Regulations and are guided by the principles of fairness, consistency, and the integrity of the electoral process.

As part of this mandate, Elections SSMU has completed an investigation into reported incidents involving Candidate Justice Bongiovanni having violated Section 7.8 of the Internal Regulations of Elections and Referenda, which states:

“No Campaign member may observe, interfere with, or be actively involved in the process of a Member casting their vote.”

After a thorough review of the evidence, Elections SSMU has determined that Candidate Bongiovanni interfered with Members’ votes, actions which included taking Members’ phones and voting on their behalf, standing over Members’ while they voted, and other forms of intimidation, contrary to the Internal Regulations.

Given the seriousness of this violation, Elections SSMU has issued 10 demerit points to the campaign.

As previously communicated, the same campaign has also accumulated 9 demerit points for violations of the following provisions of the Internal Regulations:

Section 6.4: No External Body may be directly or indirectly involved in the activities of, or in the implicit or explicit support of, Campaigns
Section 6.11: No Campaign may abuse positions they hold with any group to provide greater resources, exposure, or support to their campaign
Section 6.13: No member of a Club, Service, Independent Student Group, or media organization may use their position to aid a Campaign from which they directly benefit
Section 6.15: All campaign materials must be approved by Elections SSMU prior to distribution
Section 6.21: External bodies are restricted from any form of campaigning or support on any social media, mobile, or online platform

In light of the cumulative number and seriousness of these violations, Elections SSMU has determined, consistent with the Internal Regulations, that Candidate Bongiovanni is retroactively disqualified from the election, as he has accumulated over 15 demerit points during this election.

What this means:

Justice Bongiovanni’s win in the election is of no force and effect.

Further information about next steps regarding this position will be available in the coming days.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact elections@ssmu.ca.

Students' Society of McGill University

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