BREAKING NEWS: ASU President Announced
Martirosyan Elected ASU President – Again
By LaGina Phillips

Valley Star, CA (Los Angeles Valley College)
May 31 2005

After more than a month of turmoil, Nelli Martirosyan won the ASU’s
2005-2006 presidency in last week’s hastily-organized supplemental
election.

The controversy swirling around the disqualification of candidates in
the initial election may have helped turnout in last week’s race, with
765 students participating – a greater turnout than any in ASU’s recent
history. Martirosyan earned 54 percent of the votes (about 414 votes),
beating the vigorously campaigning Adam Park by only 79 tallies.

Park earned 44 percent (about 335 votes) and Olivia Njuki, who did
not confirm her repeat candidacy until the day before the election,
received only 2 percent (16 votes).

Martirosyan won the first election in late April but was disqualified
along with runner-up Theresa Chavez after the Election Committee
found them guilty of violating provisions of the ASU’s election code.

After Martirosyan appealed the committee’s decision, ASU Adviser
Sherri Rodriguez and Tino Manzano, acting co-vice president of Student
Services, called for a new election. Martirosyan also appealed that
decision, saying that she rightfully won the first election, so a
second should not be necessary.

The Election Committee did not agree with the administration’s decision
to impose a second election on the ASU, saying that that power should
not have been taken out of the Committee’s hands.

The conflict between the Election Committee and the adviser led to the
resignation of members Jason Henderson and interim President Jessie
Salas. Henderson’s eleventh-hour return made a quorum, enabling the
election to take place. The committee now consists of Henderson,
Julie Cuna and Chair Ron Cabrera.

Chavez, a current member of the Executive Committee, decided not to
run in the second election.

Tuesday, during the first day of the two-day election, student
Joenaphan Jones filed a complaint against Martirosyan after finding one
of her campaign fliers on his car in Lot E, a violation of Election
Code Section 7, Article N. However, the Election Committee has said
it will not disqualify the president-elect because the evidence filed
with the complaint, including photos of the fliers on several cars,
does not prove that the candidate herself was involved in any illegal
distribution of campaign materials.

Martirosyan speculated that the incident was an attempt at sabotage.
“It could have been anybody who does not want me to be president,”
she said.

The presidential results give the ASU an almost-completely Armenian
Executive Council after a handful of complaints last year that
since-ousted president Levon Bagramian had been elected only on the
strength of his Armenian heritage. Many Valley students, including
Bagramian’s opponent in that election, ASU veteran Igor Kagan, have
vocally protested those complaints, often in the Opinion page of
this newspaper.

The four candidates in the first election were: Martirosyan, who
finished first with 322 votes; Chavez (171 votes); Park (78), who
was briefly appointed president and Njuki, who received fewer than
30 votes.

Watch the summer online edition of The Valley Star for interviews
with the new ASU Executive Committee.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress