CYZ wins bid for AMS executive

At approximately 3 a.m. this morning, Team CYZ was elected to AMS executive after a night of nervous waiting.

The house exploded with cheers while president-elect Michael Ceci, vice-president (operations)-elect Leslie Yun and vice-president (university affairs)-elect Adam Zabrodski hugged each other, overjoyed. Friends and campaign supporters who had been waiting for good news since late last night chanted ‘CYZ’ while congratulations were offered to the team.

The team received 51.23 per cent of the vote and 45.87 per cent went to Team MAP. There were 266 more ballots cast for Team CYZ than Team MAP, and 2.90 per cent of the ballots were spoiled.

At the election night party, Team CYZ mixed anticipation with celebration, glad to end an exhausting campaign. Leading up to the win, they reflected on the last two weeks of intense campaigning.

“I’ve been catching up on sleep, life,” said Zabrodski, Sci ’09.

He said he was proud of the campaign.

“We think we ran a great campaign. We put a lot of work into it. We are now at the mercy of the often cruel voting party.”

Ceci, ArtSci ’09, said the CYZ platform, outlined in the Blueprint, speaks for itself.

“We tried to remain true to what we believe is best for the AMS. We’re not tied to one ideology or viewpoint. We stand behind our platform the Blueprint and hopefully the voters will too,” he said.

“We wanted to run a campaign about ideas and bring together ideas. We put a lot of work into it.” Yun, ArtSci ’10, said she has no regrets about the campaign.

“I think we did the best we could. The AMS is responsible for so many initiatives on campus. We wanted to encompass how much the AMS affects students.”

Upon winning, Yun cried with happiness.

“I’m completely overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m so proud of Ceci and Adam. I really wanted this for them.”

Many CYZ supporters were overcome with emotion, crying in disbelief. The mass of people surrounding Team CYZ shouted for a speech from their new president-elect.

“Thank you. Myself, Leslie and Adam—we really appreciate your support. We’re going to be moving forward trying to bring Queen’s together,” Ceci said between rounds of supportive applause. “Let’s work together. Let’s have a good time.”

Ceci said he wants to foster an atmosphere of inclusivity on campus.

“I feel great. Thank you to everyone. I just hope that everyone can move past issues from the election,” he said. “We can start bridging the divide on campus.”

The result of the election showed students’ confidence in Team CYZ, Zabrodski said.

“Queen’s students as a whole have recognized the better team.”