The nominations are in, and 36 students are vying for 18 spots in this year’s student government elections.

Three candidates—Alyssa “AJ” Koehn, Ben Cappellacci and Matt Parson—are running for AMS president.

“I think that in my experience with the Student Leadership Conference and UBC Rec and Rezlife, I’ve really become a strong leader figure,” said Koehn, who in the last 12 months has helped organize the Student Leadership Conference, AMS Firstweek, and the “yes” campaign in the March AMS referendum.

“I’ve given the idea of running for the presidency [thought since] probably about seven months ago, once I got a good taste of the AMS and saw what they were capable of achieving,” said Parson, the VP Academic and University Affairs.

However, it was the entry of Cappellacci into the race that surprised many. Though he served as VP Academic and University Affairs the year before Parson, he had only recently returned to campus after an exchange to France.

“The AMS is far too important to overlook and ignore and has the po- tential to have impact on our lives to- day and for the students of tomorrow. I recently returned from exchange in Paris and with my fresh perspective I decided to do something bold and run in the new year,” he said.
Meanwhile, two positions are uncontested, with Tristan Miller running for VP Finance and Kyle Warwick for VP External.

Caroline Wong and Elaine Kuo will be running against each other in the VP Administration race and six candidates will compete for the VP Academic seat: Bahador Moosavi, Carven Li, Iqbal Kassam, Kiran Mahal and joke candidate “Party Rock,” nominated by Ian Campbell.

Armin Rezaiean-Asel dropped out of the VP Academic race on Monday. He said he would be away from UBC for summer 2012, and if elected, wouldn’t have been able to commit to the position.

Seven students are running for the two student positions on the Board of Governors: Matt Parson, Erik MacKinnon, Justin Yang, Mike Silley, Tagg Jefferson, Sean Cregten and incumbent Sumedha Sharma.

Eight are running for five positions on the UBC Senate: Katherine Tyson, Montana Hunter, Kiran Mahal, Devin Syrovatka, Barnabas Caro, Dawei Ji, Malileh Noghrekar and incumbent Justin Yang.
The Student Legal Fund Society is the only race which allows slates. This year two groups are fielding candidates for the six positions: Students for Responsible Leadership (SRL) and Student Progressive Action Network (SPAN).

Six candidates make up the SPAN slate: Jannel Robertson, Arran Walshe, Nai N. Louza, Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, Arielle Friedman and Gregory Williams.

SRL was previously running five candidates—Aaron Sihota, Sandy Buchanan, Maria Cirstea, Jordan Stewart and James Petti. However, despite a nomination being handed in late, the Elections Comittee has allowed the sixth candidate of the slate, JJ MacLean, to run in the SLFS race.

This year’s ballot will also includes students looking to sit on the Board of Directors of the Ubyssey Publications Society. Oliver Thorne is running unopposed for president, while four candidates are running for four director positions, including Federico Ziza, Imran Habib, Luka Bogdanovic and Sandy Buchanan.

Students will also be asked to vote on four referendum questions. One question asks to reduce the Student Spaces Fund Fee by $3.88, another to create an AMS Endowment Fund, the third question asks to sell the Whistler Lodge, and the last to sell three pieces of the AMS art collection.

Voting opens January 23 and closes January 27.

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