It was a story of contrasts last night as Frode Eilertsen '99 and Nahoko Kawakyu '99 were elected Student Assembly president and vice president, respectively, but in very different fashion.
Eilertsen, a 24-year-old engineering major from Oslo, Norway claimed the Assembly presidency with 60.1 percent of the vote -- the greatest election landslide in at least the past 10 years.
On the other hand, Kawakyu, a 20-year-old government and German double-major from San Diego, became the first write-in candidate ever to win Assembly office, taking the vice presidency by a razor-thin margin of just eight votes out of the almost 1,400 cast for that office.
Kawakyu overcame Dave Altman '99 in the tightest vice-presidential election on record, even closer than current Vice President Chris Swift '98's 30-vote win over Meredith Epstein '97 last year. Epstein also ran as a write-in.
Eilertsen's 60.1 percent of the vote was 42 percentage points more than his closest presidential competitor, Scott Jacobs '99, who had 18.2 percent.
The margin of victory is the largest this decade, surpassing even Jon Heavey '97, who won the presidency last year by an almost 3-to-1 margin.
"If you're ever going to talk about a mandate, it's something close to it," Eilertsen said. "I don't think there is any greater honor than getting the trust that people have put in me."
Eilertsen took 887 out of the 1,477 presidential votes cast. Jacobs received 269 votes, write-in Unai Montes-Irueste had 106 and write-in Kathy Kim '00 got 73 votes.
It was the whopping 600-vote difference between Eilertsen and Jacobs that surprised the candidates.
"I'm shocked our race was so lopsided," Jacobs said.
"Scottie did everything you can do as a candidate," Montes-Irueste said, but added "you wouldn't know it by the numbers."
Montes-Irueste added he "didn't expect to win" but simply wanted to "alter the debate and get people to talk about issues -- and I think I did that."
Kawakyu received 593 of the 1,386 vice-presidential ballots cast, or 42.8 percent, to Altman's 585 votes, or 42.2 percent. Write-in Ben Oren '00 registered 97 votes, or 7.0 percent.
It represents the smallest margin of victory in Assembly history.
"I feel like I have 593 people to thank," Kawakyu said. "I feel like going out and thanking every person I see."
Altman said he was shocked by the closeness of the race. He stressed he will still be involved with the Assembly.
"I'm going to make sure that she'll follow through on what I want," Altman said. "I'll definitely be in the neighborhood."
With Eilertsen's election, the Assembly will be led by a junior next year for the first time since 1991, when Brian Ellner '92 defeated three seniors-to-be in winning the job.
Kawakyu will be the first woman to serve as president or vice president since 1995 when Danielle Moore '95 and Rukmini Sichitiu '95 held those respective positions.
Only 320 students voted yesterday after 1,157 cast their ballots on Tuesday. The total 1,477 votes cast was the lowest turnout since 1991, when 1,463 students voted.
Jacobs said he was disappointed in yesterday's turnout.
He said he was "shocked" so few people voted on Wednesday, the second day of the balloting. "I think that is something that should be looked into," he said.
Other offices
Kathryn Bieneman '98 was elected president of the 1998 Class Council and Alex Reitman '98 was elected vice president in races that lacked any candidates on the ballot. Bieneman and Reitman received the most write-in votes out of a crowded field of candidates.
Rex Morey '99 and David Sussman '99 were elected Class of 1999 Council president and vice president, respectively -- both by wide margins.
The 2000 Class Council president will be Noah Phillips '00, who warded off a strong write-in campaign by Kelly Bodio '00. Paul Holzer '00 will be the 2000 class vice president
The six newly elected members of the Committee on Standards are: Shauna Brown '99, Travis Gardner '99, Ben Hill '98, Katherine Kirwan '99, Rex Morey '99 and Jonah Sonnenborn '99.
In the race for Green Key Society the 20 juniors-to-be elected are: Shauna Brown, Kerry Bystrom, Kathleen Castellani, Arthur Desrosiers, Case Dorkey, James Gallo, Kevin Goldman, Andrew Hatcher, Mia Hockett, Scott Jacobs, Catherine Johnson, Nahoko Kawakyu, Katherine Kirwan, Sheryl Koval, Kyle Marchesseault, David Rapson, Elizabeth Serrill, Leonora Snyder, David Sussman and Elizabeth Tripoli.
And in the race for Assembly at-large representatives, the 24 newly elected members are: Joan Ai '98, Kelly Bodio '99, Eric Buchman '00, Millicent Cho '99, Arthur Desrosiers '99, Case Dorkey '99, Rachel Gilliar '98, Josh Green '00, Maura Henninger '00, Ben Hill '98, Paul Holtzer '00, James Horowitz '98, Scott Jacobs '99, Ann Kanyusik '98, Katherine Kirwan '99, Aaron Klein '98, Rex Morey '99, David Parker '00, Janelle Ruley '00, Leonora Snyder '99, Jonah Sonnenborn '99, Chris Swift '98, Simone Swink '98 and Sunil Verma '00.
