Charlene Okine will serve as the undergraduate Student Association 2026-27 president with a win of 1,296 votes. SA announced the results Friday afternoon.
Okine scored approximately 38% of the total votes for president out of a pool of four presidential candidates. Runner-up Aidan Thomas secured 874 votes, with Vice President for Clubs Pranavan Balachandran at third place with 729.
A combined total of 3,408 undergraduates voted in the presidential and 2026-27 Senate elections, said SA 2026-27 Elections and Credentials Chair Tala Al-Khaouli. Both elections ran from Sept. 14 to 18.
Similar to last year’s campaign for SA president where she was runner-up to former SA 2026-27 President Jack Koscinski, Okine ran on promises of student advocacy. Okine told The Spectrum during the elections that she wanted to represent students, improve the on-campus experience and maintain transparency.
On-campus events were also one of Okine’s priorities. Okine sought to keep widespread events such as Fest, but also introduce smaller events like movie nights and pop-up shops.
Okine told The Spectrum that she’s happy to serve the student body.
“I’m very excited to work with my fellow colleagues,” Okine said. “I’m just really happy. I’m really happy to take the position.”
Aiden Dickerson and Logan Carlin contributed to the reporting of this article.
Dorothy Similien is the assistant news editor and can be reached at dorothy.similien@ubspectrum.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
