Nearly 80% of RC students voted yesterday to elect Anya Hayden and Brad Minkow as the Co-Presidents of the HBS Students Association for 2015-16, but their margin of victory was not disclosed in, in line with what organizers called a ‘standard process’.
Anya and Brad were victorious over Aziz Albahar and Lynn ElHarake in a campaign that was marked by limited differentiation between the two tickets’ vision.
Organizers of the election declined to reveal Anya and Brad’s margin of victory, meaning that students (and the candidates) are left in the dark about the winners’ support, mandate and ability to unite and persuade their fellow students.
Aziz and Lynn indicated yesterday in a Q&A with Section I that they were eager to serve on Anya and Brad’s SA Executive, meaning publicizing their share of the vote could be highly relevant Anya and Brad’s decision about whether to include them.
Results were announced this morning by current Co-President Nonso Maduka in an email that congratulated both sets of candidates, but didn’t disclose the turnout or margin victory.
The Harbus contacted the organizers of the election to obtain the turnout figures, which, now they are publicized, can lend significant credibility to the results. At the same time, they declined to reveal the vote totals for each ticket.
Catherine Slater, an RC who was one of a group who organized the election, explained their decision by saying, “The standard process is that we provide the total number of participants [in the election] only. You will recall that this is consistent with the RC elections last fall.”
