Sadeghi-Movahed, Haq elected to transfer, general representative seats

This post was updated on Oct. 26 at 5:20 p.m.

Students elected Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed to the newly created transfer student representative seat and Sofia Moreno Haq to the general representative 2 seat on the undergraduate student government council Friday.

The Undergraduate Students Association Council special election saw a 13.6 percent voter turnout, a small number compared to the typical voter turnout of about 30 percent in the general spring election. Because many students did not vote, two fee referendums on the ballot automatically failed to pass, since 20 percent of the student body must vote to meet a threshold for a referendum to pass.

Election Board Chair Shagun Kabra declared Sadeghi-Movahed the first transfer student representative with a slim majority, 52.7 percent of the total vote. Candidate Michelle Balatbat received 35.5 percent of the vote and candidate Allan Kew received 11.8 percent of the vote.

“I’m excited to be able to set precedent for the office, which a lot of people don’t get to do,” Sadeghi-Movahed said. “This is history in the making.”

Haq won the general representative 2 seat with 58.5 percent of the vote, while candidate Youmun Alhlou received 41.5 percent of student votes.

All candidates in the special election ran as independents, causing an unusual absence of slates in this election. Sadeghi-Movahed and Haq ran a joint campaign to pool resources in a fashion similar to a slate, and Balatbat and Alhlou also ran a joint campaign. Kew was the only candidate to run alone.

After the victory of two independents, USAC now has a plurality of independent councilmembers.

Sadeghi-Movahed campaigned on the platforms of proposing a transfer resource center, extending late night hours of certain bus stops, and hosting quarterly transfer mixers and a transfer graduation.

The Bruin Diversity Referendum, which would have raised student fees by $9.93 per quarter to help fund certain diversity, retention and outreach programs on campus, received a majority of “yes” votes, but did not pass because not enough students voted.

The Green Initiative Fund referendum, which would have extended quarterly student fees to fund environmental sustainability projects on campus, also won a majority of votes but failed to pass because of the voter turnout threshold.

The only ballot measure that did pass was the Temporary Vacancy constitutional amendment. The measure, which clarifies the special elections process and how USAC vacancies are filled, passed with 86.9 percent of the vote. Just 10 percent of the student body has to vote for constitutional amendments to pass.

The transfer student representative position is new to USAC, after a referendum in last year’s spring election called for the creation of the position.

Sadeghi-Movahed said she plans to immediately work on forming her staff, then focus on working with UCLA Transportation for her bus hours extension platform, which she said will likely take the longest time to complete.

Transfer student representative candidate Allan Kew, who is in his first quarter at UCLA after transferring this year, said he was not surprised by his loss because he lacked the funding and student group support that other candidates had.

“When people challenge the establishment in special elections, they usually lose,” Kew said. “In that regard, I’m not surprised I lost. But hopefully the office will have good policies that help the transfer community.”

Kew said he plans to pursue a position in a USAC office this year and is considering running for the transfer student representative position again in the spring election.

Balatbat, who came in second place for the transfer student representative position, said she is happy that transfers will be represented on USAC, but is disappointed that she lost the election. Although she said she will not run for office again, Balatbat added that she will still be involved in USAC throughout this year.

Alhlou said she is disappointed that she lost, but that she will continue to work in the Office of the Internal Vice President and with the facilities commission.

“This is something that I deeply care about and plan to stay involved in. I’m interested to see how she (Haq) will handle her position with so little experience. This is definitely going to be an interesting year,” Alhlou said.

Newly elected General Representative 2 Haq ran on the platforms of holding quarterly multicultural festivals, extending van service hours and increasing the number of resources for students to utilize on the Hill.

“This feels great. It’s so surreal,” Haq said after the results were announced. “I’ve been so thankful for the support from different communities all over campus.”

Haq added that she must get to work right away on forming her office and initiating her platforms because of her shorter term.

Internal Vice President Avinoam Baral said he was excited for Sadeghi-Movahed and Haq to join the council because they will both bring their strong work ethic to the table.

“I really want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt about being a truly independent councilmember,” Baral said. “But it’s totally up to them how they want to approach the table and do their work.”

Both Sadeghi-Movahed and Haq will participate in their first council meeting Tuesday.