After an extra week of confusion, a rushed second election, and a little rainy weather, junior Syene Jasmin has been officially declared the North Carolina A&T University Student Government Association President for the 2009-2010 academic school year.

Not alone in the run-offs, Jasmin was just one of several positions officially announced a week after the initial election.

The Register

Syene Jasmin

Following the first election on March 25, there was confusion as to who was elected president of the student body. On March 26, the elections committee proclaimed Syene Jasmin the “offical winner.” 

Jasmin captured 1123 votes, or 62.11% of the vote.

However, the victory for Jasmin was very short-lived. Just a few hours after Jasmin was announced president, he was disqualified by the elections committee for a reported campaign violation. The elections committee  decided to allow the candidates to be put back on the ballot for a re-election.

While the elections have finally come to a close, the impact they had on students across campus may still be lasting.

In a survey conducted on The A&T Register’s website, students were asked if they thought that a re-election was the right thing to do.

Of those surveyed, 45 percent said yes, and felt that Jasmin should never have been disqualified in the first place.

However, 30 percent said no, and felt as though Presidential Candidate Julian Love should have been declared president because he followed all of the rules. Twenty percent said they didn’t even vote, and the remaining 5 percent said that after all the mess, they just wanted an SGA President.

It is unclear how this may or may not affect Jasmin’s term in office, but he has a very positive outlook on things.

The Jasmin Administration had their first e-board meeting yesterday, and will be participating in the annual SGA retreat with Dean of Students Dr. Judy Rashid very soon.

“I feel great, and relieved,” Jasmin said. “It’s time to get to work.”

Knowing that students voted for him not once, but twice, gives Jasmin a renewed sense of dedication to his task at hand and he is looking forward to it.

“I think it only affirms that I have twice responsibility to the students because they voted for me twice. It makes me work harder.

“If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything, and the students didn’t fall for anything they stood for a fair elections,” Jasmin said.

“Regardless of whether it was me or Julian, the people stood for something. It’s going to be a great year.”  

Dexter Mullins writes for The Register, the North Carolina A&T University student newspaper, which originally published a version of this article.