WRL wins AMS election

Team WRL wins 60 per cent of student vote

WRL celebrates their election victory.
WRL celebrates their election victory.

Team WRL won the AMS executive election tonight with approximately 60 per cent of the student vote.

The win was announced tonight by the AMS Elections Team at the WRL party near Alfred and Johnson Streets. Around 100 students gathered at the party.

Team WRL includes Allison Williams, ArtSci ’14, for president, Justin Reekie, ArtSci ’13, for vice-president (operations) and Philip Lloyd, ConEd ’13, for vice-president (university affairs).

The current AMS executive arrived to deliver the news along with Chief Returning Officer Chris Parker, Rector Nick Francis, several AMS commissioners and other AMS and student society leaders.

As of 10:50 p.m. on Wednesday, WRL won 60 per cent and SMH received 40 per cent of the student vote. According to Parker, turnout was approximately 34 per cent.

Allison Williams, the newly elected AMS president, said she’s excited to start her work.

“I can’t speak for all of us, but I think we start tomorrow, not on May first,” she said.

The campaign wasn’t quite what she expected, she said.

“Everyone told us it would go by very quickly, but it was incredibly slow,” she said. “The 10 minutes before the announcement was the longest 10 minutes of my life.” Team SMH joined the WRL party after the announcement was made. Williams and SMH presidential candidate Scott Mason shared a hug and shook hands.

“We’re good,” she said. “He and I are one for one now.”

Scott Mason and ASUS Vice-President Irfan Tahiri defeated Allison Williams and Zaeem Anwar during last year’s ASUS executive elections.

Justin Reekie, who was elected the new Vice-President (Operations), thanked his supporters after hearing the announcement.

“I don’t even know what to say because I’ll start crying,” he said. “I don’t think it’s my win, I think it’s the win of my volunteers.”

Philip Lloyd, the WRL Vice-President (University Affairs) candidate said he felt overwhelmed by the news.

“I can’t describe how happy I am,” he said. “I’m overjoyed.”

Lloyd said he’ll start preparing for his position soon, but not before taking a break.

“I’m going to have a drink, talk to my parents and then we’ll get an agenda going to do this,” he said.

Troy Sherman, the WRL campaign manager, said the campaign strategy contributed to the win.

“I felt really good,” Sherman, ArtSci ’14, said. “As long as you’re consistent as a campaign, you’ll get the results as well.”

Team SMH was informed by phone that they had lost the election just before 11 p.m.

Presidential candidate Scott Mason answered the call from the AMS Elections Team. He informed his teammates and campaign manager Stephen Smith in the hallway outside Mark Asfar’s apartment, before going to inform friends and supporters.

Mason popped a bottle of champagne, and said he supported the decision of student voters.

“I feel absolutely fantastic because my good friends, Ali Williams, Phillip Lloyd, and Justin Reekie are the next AMS executive,” Mason, ArtSci ’14, said.

He said he was satisfied with SMH’s campaign.

“We ran a clean campaign, we ran a positive campaign,” he said. “I feel as though that everything ended the way it should be.” Mark Asfar said he was happy that the election period was over.

“This was more exhausting than anything I’ve ever done … I’m happy to be done,” Asfar, ArtSci ’14, said. “God damn I’m happy to celebrate with [friends] right now.”

Hasina Daya said that she is looking forward to see what WRL will do in the new school year.

“I’m really excited for Team WRL, they are going to do amazing things,” Daya, ArtSci ’14,said. “I’m really grateful for the people I have around me today.”

– With files from Chloë Grande

Tags

AMS, Elections

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content