What happened to U of T’s StudentsFirst?

Andrew Rusk
The Varsity (University of Toronto)
The Varsity reported Feb. 28 that University of Toronto opposition slate StudentsFirst had decided to boycott the student union elections after alleged last-minute disqualifications.
StudentsFirst presidential candidate Matthew Gray alleged that VP external candidate Rohail Tanoli and board of directors candidates Cloe Bilobe and Suzannah Moore were notified shortly before the all-candidates meeting that they did not receive sufficient nomination signatures to enter the race.
Before announcing the slate’s boycott, Gray inquired as to whether the candidates could enter the race if an appeal found that they had the sufficient number of signatures. Both the CRO and the elections and referenda committee refused to provide a definitive answer.
The CRO issued an interim report March 3 on the “ineligible nominees for the 2011 UTSU spring elections.”
The report found that Rohail Tanoli – StudentsFirst nominee for vice-president external – received 217 nomination signatures, of which only 187 were eligible. Based on a March 2 recount, Tanoli’s inelligibility was confirmed.
Executive candidates are required to submit 200 eligible signatures to enter the elections race.