The race for the next SA president continues between experienced SA director Egor Evseev and newcomer Luke Vucetic.
Meanwhile, the current president of the SA, Sara Grainger, said that the end of her term is bittersweet but that she is confident the new Board of Directors and their president can pick up where she left off.
“I think anyone who was previously a director and runs again has an advantage,” said Grainger.
Grainger also went on to say that varying perspectives help the Board of Directors keep students’ best interests in mind.
Evseev is confident that his year of experience as a director and the relationships he has formed will be an asset to the new board.
Evseev spent the previous year on the SA Board of Directors after an unsuccessful campaign for the presidency. Evseev was disqualified from the election last year after he was found to be campaigning past the final deadline. He used his official campaign Instagram account to like content posted by other people which was ruled to be a form of campaigning.
Regardless, Evseev performed his duties as a director for the SA and became a director again for the upcoming academic year.
Vucetic’s campaign faced some controversy with his slogan of “Make Algonquin great again,” a quote parodying American businessman and politician, Donald Trump.
Vucetic has since printed new posters for his campaign which now reads “Make Algonquin even better” with the words “great again” stamped out. The old posters still remain up around campus because the slogan was meant to be humorous and draw more attention to the election.
Vucetic said that most students interpret the remark as a joke and that he is trying to communicate this message further on social media.
“I’m trying to increase the sense of community around campus, get students more involved and up to date with what’s going on around the school. I’m trying to do the opposite of what Donald Trump is doing, I’m trying to bring the students closer together,” said Vucetic.
Evseev, said that he interpreted the slogan as a joke but added that it was also a risky strategy.
“I commend him for the bold campaign move,” said Evseev.
Charlene Dygos, who served on the Board of Directors last year, ran unopposed for the vice-presidency and was acclaimed with the position on March 17.
Initially, Dygos and Vucetic were candidates for vice-president until Vucetic decided to run for the presidency instead. Dygos and Evseev both served on the Board of Directors last year and they agreed to run as a team after evaluating the responsibilities of both positions.
Dygos ran for vice-president last year but was unsuccessful against the three other candidates for the position. The previous election a total of seven directors ran for the presidency and vice-presidency.
“This year some of the students on the board realized that they may not have the time to commit to the extra amount of work or they’re comfortable just being a director,” said Dygos.
Evseev, Vucetic and Dygos all said they were confident in the abilities of their new and old colleagues on the board regardless of who wins the election.
Voting for the election takes from March 28 to April 1 and can be done on the Students’ Association website.