By snoadmin
Christopher Chavez was announced as the new Associated Students, Inc. vice president for the 2008-09 school year at the Southwest Terrace Wednesday.
The vice presidential runoff election, in which 1,485 students voted, saw Chavez receive 65 percent of the vote with his competitor, Jason Aula, receiving the remaining 35 percent.
The runoff vote came after none of the vice presidential candidates managed to receive the necessary 50 percent plus-one majority needed to win in last week’s ASI election.
In those results, Chavez received 43 percent of the vote and Aula 31 percent, which eliminated Ruben Cordova in the race for the vice presidency.
Talking with the Daily Forty-Niner after the announcement of his win, Chavez thanked his supporters for their commitment to the campaign.
“I want to thank the people that got me here. There was a lot of people from ASI who put their trust in me,” Chavez said.
Chavez also outlined his agenda for the next academic year, which included a promise to make the ASI Senate address issues that were pertinent to the campus.
“I want the Senate to be more active and stand up for students through thick and thin … I want to see what directly affects the students, because ASI is here to be the advocate for the students,” Chavez said. “I’m going to make sure that my victory today is going to be a victory for the students in the long run.”
Vice presidential runner-up Aula expressed his disappointment after the announcement.
“I wasn’t too surprised. Chavez had a lot of support and I think it was a good accomplishment that I still got 35 percent of the vote,” Aula said. “I still want to move on with the football thing and hopefully I can get a committee together to get it going.”
Aula also mentioned the struggles he said he faced.
“Obviously the people in ASI are against me. I’m not in the circle of ASI people and I think they’re scared of a conservative voice,” Aula said.
Aula also outlined his plans to keep tabs on the new executives.
“If Chavez makes any mistakes, I’ve got a network of people who are going to try to get him recalled,” Aula said.
