By-election basics: All you need to know

Why is there a Presidential by-election?
Only one person submitted his nomination forms to run for President of the SFUO in January. That candidate was Dean Haldenby and he, amazingly, failed the bilingualism exam, despite being a member of the executive for the past year.

What did they do after the bilinguigate incident?
The SFUO Elections Office decided to go as planned with the General elections and hold a by-election, that would be open to all interested students, pending a succesful bilingualism exam of course.

So who is running in these elections? Why is Dean contested this time?
Despite a lot of initial hype and drama - at one point we had 7 potential candidates - the list has been reduced to three. Renaud-Philippe Garner, Dean Haldenby and Joseph Wesley Richards II. Dean Haldenby is the heavy favourite, as he is the outgoing VP Finance and he has wanted this job for the last three years (at least). He benefits from the largest political machine, he knows/understands the SFUO and he has experience running elections. Joseph Wesley Richards II is a more conservative candidate and will run on fiscal responsibility. Finally, Renaud-Philippe Garner is a bit of a wild-card, refusing to play politics, instead limiting his entire campaign to classrooms and hype.

Wait... How did Dean pass his exam the second time around?
Haldenby reportedly studied every day to pass his exam the second time around. He was not that far off the first time and he even went one week to France to polish up his accent.

Who will win? And what will happen?
The SFUO establishment wants Dean Haldenby to win. Half of the elected executive for next year has worked with Haldenby and the other half know him quite well. He is the "safe" candidate, the "experienced" candidate and the "moderate" candidate. Anything can happen, but anything other than a Haldenby victory would be an upset.

Simplify this for me.
JWR2 is the more conservative candidate, even though he is quite moderate.
Dean Haldenby is the moderate candidate, even though he is slightly more to the left.
RPG is the left-wing candidate, even though he does promote some more conservative measures (opt-out)

What about the Canadian Federation of Students?
All three want a referendum on the issue, except JWR2 is clearly against CFS and RPG is clearly in favour. Haldenby "does not know" but wants a referendum next year.

When is the vote?
March 12-13

Where can I get more information?
All the platforms, debates and interviews are directly accessible by clicking on them on the right side menu.