CREDIT: JORDAN CROW
Keren Nanneti at The Out Back Shack, learning she has been elected the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) president for 2019/2020.

Keren Nanneti is your new Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) president after a historic by-election.

Nanneti, who won with 1,028 votes, received 168 more votes than runner-up and former FSU acting president Julia Brown. Ben Clements and Amanda Meunier also ran for the role.

Nanneti was thrilled to find out she was elected, and expressed gratitude towards her supporters.

“Guys, I’m so incredibly honoured,” she said. “So grateful for everything that you guys did and I’m so speechless and thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all your votes and all your support and all your love.”

As FSU President, she will first send out a student feedback survey and then have a meeting with class representatives. She wanted to give students a chance to provide feedback after students asked her about it during the campaign.

A total of 3,235 ballots were cast in the FSU By-Election, where students also picked six new directors to serve on the Student Administrative Council (SAC) Board of Directors. Aravind Mohanan Pillai, Katyayini Thakur, Kate Seliverstova, Karyna Barabash, Hafil Perincheeri, and Mercy Barishaki were elected.

Paul Masse, the general manager for the FSU, said that about 17 per cent of the eligible student voters cast their ballots in the election, which he said is around the expected voter turnout.

“The turnout that you’re seeing is pretty much in align with other student associations,” he said. Masse added that he’s pleased with the turnout, because it was what he expected, although he would have liked to see a higher turnout.

The total number of ballots cast for the by-election was much larger than the previous FSU Election in March 2019, where former FSU President Abdullah Qassab was elected. Masse correlated the higher voter turnout to the number of candidates running. Traditionally, the number of candidates running, especially for the FSU president, bring in more voters. With four students running for president and 11 students running for director positions, there were 15 total candidates campaigning in the by-election.

He said that getting students interested in making a difference as a student leader serving the College community will also increase the voter turnout, along with reaching to all students on all campuses.

“We have to constantly consider that every student has an opportunity to cast their vote.”

Visit fsu.ca/elections to view the by-election results by the numbers.