BY LAURA PLACELLA and LAURA McFADZEAN

Incumbent ticket Together has won the 2020 Monash Student Association (MSA) election with the results declared just two hours after voting closed yesterday at 5pm.

This year marked the first time the MSA election has gone virtual, with the advent of online voting due to COVID-19 seeing the ballots counted in record time. 

2020 is the fourth year in a row Together has claimed victory in the MSA election, with Go! the last ticket to occupy office in 2017.

President-elect Marni O’Connell said she is “so proud of every member of the [Together] team”.

“They were honestly the first people I thought of because they are the reason we were so successful,” Ms O’Connell said.

Her goals for 2021 include providing first years an experience they have been “deprived of” and creating an MSA which is “most inclusive, inviting and truly representative”.

“Monash students are facing an unprecedented set of challenges,” she said.

“Alongside continually fighting against the threats to our education and prioritising student wellbeing, it will be so vital to re-invigorate that sense of community at Monash.”

Together claimed 23 office-bearer positions yesterday, including the positions of president, secretary and treasurer, with 11 of its candidates also winning the Lot’s Wife editorship. 

The positions of queer officer and Indigenous officer were declared elected unopposed on September 15, with two Rainbow Collective candidates and two independents claiming the positions respectively.

Up to 6676 students cast a ballot to elect the office-bearers, a significant increase when compared to the 3933 students who cast a ballot in the election last year. 

Together’s primary opposition was the Student Voice ticket, with tickets Student Fightback – Climate Action and Support Your Students also opposing the incumbent ticket.

Ms O’Connell received 4439 votes, compared to Student Voice candidate James Desmond’s 1795 votes and Student Fightback – Climate Action’s candidate Kelly Cvetkova’s 338 votes.

Ms O’Connell will be the first woman MSA president since Matilda Grey in 2017.

She said as Together’s first woman president, she is “definitely excited to be bringing a new vision and perspective to the MSA”, but will act in all students’ interests.

Student Voice’s candidate for president and current Academic Board representative, James Desmond, said the “record voter turnout” and “high primary votes” speak for themselves.

“Congratulations to Together and Marni [O’Connell], Joshua [Pelach], Bailey [Webb] and all of the people elected on committees,” Mr Desmond said.

“I trust that they’ll do everything in their power to make Monash University a better place and to ensure that 2021 is a better year for us all on campus.”

However, Student Voice did not walk away empty handed.

One of its candidates will be a Monash Student Council (MSC) general representative, 30 will sit on committees/collectives and two will be National Union of Students (NUS) delegates next year.

“The result obviously wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m so incredibly proud of the entire Student Voice team, and everyone who either put themselves forward as a candidate or helped spread our message,” Mr Desmond said.

As for Together, four of its candidates will be MSC general representatives, 63 will sit on committees/collectives and five will be NUS delegates next year.

Student Fightback – Climate Action and Support Your Students celebrated no wins but independent Andy Xing will sit on the environment and social justice committee.

All three referendums put to students passed, which will see the creation of a residential community department and disabilities and carers committee.

GOING VIRTUAL

The 2020 MSA election saw students currently enrolled at the Clayton campus vote online via the system BigPulse, and campaigning take place predominantly on social media. 

All tickets were required to campaign in accordance with the election regulations, which made certain types of campaigning on social media prohibited, such as posting on Monash Stalkerspace.

Tickets had to resort to campaigning on their own Facebook pages or getting candidates to share their content on their private accounts.

Student Fightback – Climate Action was banned from campaigning for three hours due to publishing content which was deemed “dishonest” and “intended or likely to mislead or deceive students”.

The ticket’s candidate for president, Kelly Cvetkova, was contacted for comment.

Mr Desmond said the online forum was “better and nicer” than in-person campaigning or voting.

“It was good the system could be adapted so that democracy could be facilitated even despite this time,” he said.

“I think the record voter turnout was as a result of online voting – it’s easier to just open an email and spend two or three minutes filling out boxes and submitting there and then.

“Perhaps going forward Monash University might look to making online voting more permanent, so that more people feel comfortable and more people want to take part in the process.”

Ms O’Connell said Together’s campaigning was “based on connecting with people via online platforms”, using social media and Zoom. 

“It was definitely a challenge, but didn’t stop us from getting one of the highest voter turnouts in the history of Monash – and that’s down to every single member of our Together team,” she said.