On February 13, 2009, CUSA’s electoral board disqualified Bruce Kyereh-Addo(pictured) after he was elected by the students to become the CUSA president. It was only after the vote counting was completed and Kyereh-Addo was realized as the successful president that he was notified that he would be disqualified for "electoral violations" ranging from actions taken by his supporters to allowing people to discuss his candidacy on Facebook.
Mysteriously, of the three candidates running for President two were disqualified which left Erik Halliwell the president by default. The actual results demonstrated a strong showing for Kyereh-Addo:
* VOTES:
*Bruce Kyereh-Addo: 1744
* Erik Halliwell: 1569
* Cameron McIntosh: 481
This caused a great deal of outrage throughout campus, including protests in front of CUSA’s main office and demonstrations to allow the rightful president to take his seat. These large demonstrations, while helpful in informing the student body, have not resulted in any change of heart from CUSA’s electoral committee. Ironically, the disqualification of who would be CUSA’s first black president came in the very week the United States first black president Barack Obama visited Ottawa. To date, Kyereh-Addo’s disqualification was upheld by the electoral board. An appeal is currently awaiting review by CUSA’s constitutional board, the highest board of appeal under CUSA’s jurisdiction before legal action is taken.
When Kyereh-Addo appealed, the Electoral Board acknowledged that they had no proof that he was directly involved with anything he is accused of. But they upheld their decision anyways.
Bruce Kyereh-Addo won this election. And he didn’t win because he punched a hole in the wall. He didn’t win because someone on DC++ told their friends to vote for him. And he didn’t win because someone took out a Facebook ad criticizing the Shinerama motion.
He won fair and square.
If you want to share your disappointment about Bruce’s disqualification from CUSA, contact the following people:
Elections Office: elections@cusaonline.com
President Rosanne Runte: presidents_office@carleton.ca
Board of Governors: governors@carleton.ca
Erik Halliwell: vpsi@cusaonline.com
The Charlatan: charlatan@charlatan.ca
The Resin: resin@rrra.ca
Credit: The Charlatan newspaper, Ottawa/Afro Caribe, Ottawa.
Note from the editor: CUSA is the Carleton University Students Association. Carleton University is located in Ottawa, the Canadian capital.
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