The Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) presidential and vice-presidential elections, which closed at midnight last Friday, April 28, resulted in victory for incumbent WSA president Zachary Malter ’13 and his running mate, Academic Affairs Committee Chair Mari Jarris ’14. Malter received 654 votes, while the only other official candidate on the ballot—current WSA Coordinator Arya Alizadeh ’13—received 355 votes. Write-in candidate Finance and Facilities Committee Member Anwar Batte ’13 came in third with 138 votes, followed by perennial candidate Giant Joint ’54 with 26 votes.

Jarris received over twice as many votes as the second-place candidate, Academic Affairs Committee member Sam Ebb ’13, who ran alongside Alizadeh. Joint also made an appearance in the vice presidential results with 50 votes, ahead of write-ins Jake Blumenthal ’13, who received 24 votes, and Batte, who received 18 vice-presidential votes.

Malter expressed gratification in his win, as well as the hope that his and Jarris’ win will allow a continuation and expansion of this years’ changes.

“It was definitely validating that students are happy with the direction that the WSA is going this year—becoming more accessible, more transparent, reaching out for more partnerships with student groups and non-WSA members,” Malter said. “But there’s still much room for improvement in these areas, and Mari and I hope to build on this year’s work to bring more results for students, more tangible options in their day-to-day lives.”

Malter also emphasized the civility of the campaign, and praised his opponents for contributing to the amiable atmosphere of the weeks leading up to the election.

“I want to commend Arya and Sam, they worked incredibly hard, ran a very positive campaign, and set a new tone in WSA elections where issues and ideas are more important than tactics and where negative campaigning is really not present,” he said.

The losing candidates had the opportunity to run for one of the six representative spots in their class. Elections for these positions began on Monday, April 30, and will continue through Friday, May 4.