Calgary – The Students’ Union (SU) of the University of Calgary is pleased to announce the results of the SU General Election which will form the 84th Students’ Legislative Council (SLC). Undergraduate students were able to cast their vote in the election from March 3-5 to determine which of their peers will represent them to faculties, the university, and the three orders of government.
There was just a single race within the executive positions this year which was a three-candidate race for SU President. Gabriela Dziegielewska has been elected, defeating Julia Law and Michael Harris to succeed Naomie Bakana as President. They won with 66.1% of the vote.
They will be joined by three uncontested Vice Presidents, who all garnered enough Yes votes to win their races. The three Vice Presidents will be Abdu Negmeldin (Vice President Internal), Mahad Rzain (Vice President External), and Zoe Zeritsch (Vice President Academic).
The position of Board of Governors representative was also uncontested, and Aitazaz Shah received a majority of yes votes to claim the singular Board of Governors’ seat. While the SU had two open seats for the position of Senate Representatives. Ophelia Vecchione will be joining the Senate, and the other open position will be filled in a future by-election.
In the Faculty Representative races, there were three faculties with races – Arts, the Haskayne School of Business, and Kinesiology.
There were six candidates for the Faculty of Arts, in which there were four positions available. The four elected are Davina Elesin, Xander Halsey-Dam, Abbas Hussain, and Fatima Jarid.
In the race for the two seats available to represent the Haskayne School of Business, there were three candidates. Zahra Qazi and Elias Karayiannis were successful in their bids, and will be joining the 84th SLC.
In the final contested race, there were three candidates for the singular Faculty of Kinesiology seat. The successful candidate is Noah Karmali.
Other Faculty Representative races asked students to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for candidates. All candidates running received a majority of ‘yes’ votes in their respective races:
Cumming School of Medicine (two seats available): Laiba Nasir and Nikhil Srivalsan
Faculty of Law: Mickail Hendi
Faculty of Nursing: Natasha Tenor
Schulich School of Engineering (two positions available): Jana Abdelrahman and Khadiza Ahsan
Faculty of Science (four positions available): Warren Hamill, Yansing Huang, Sehaj Kang, and Carrar Saleh
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine: Samuel McFetridge
Werklund School of Education: Siena Yee
There was also a Referendum Vote to determine if students supported implementing a fee to finance a Mac Hal Redevelopment Fund beginning in the Fall Term of 2026/27. With 55.2 % of the vote, students have voted to support this fee, meaning the referendum has passed.
3309 students voted in the 2026 General Election, which equates to 11% of the undergraduate population. The results announced today are provisional and become official on March 13. Students elected in this General Election will take office on May 4th, 2026.
The SU will hold a by-election in October 2026 to fill the vacancies for the following positions:
- Faculty Rep., School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (1)
- Faculty Representatives, Schulich School of Engineering (1)
- Faculty Representative, Social Work (1)
- Senate Student-at-Large Representatives (1)
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Inquiries may be directed to:
Nathan Ross
Manager, Communications & Government Relations
nathan.ross@ucalgary.ca
Cell: 403-835-1836
The new 2026-2027 SU Executive team. From the left, Zoe Zeritsch, VP Academic; Abdu Negmeldin, VP Internal; Gabriela Dziegielewska, President; Mahad Rzain, VP External.
Aitazaz Shah, incoming Board of Governors representative, General Election 2026