The campaigning has ended and the votes have been tallied. Kristin Dayag, a sophomore international relations and public administration major, who, with running mate Saman Waquad, a senior biology major and human resource management minor, received 45 percent of the vote in the Oakland University student body general election and stands at the top as OU’s next student body president.

Dayag’s victory was officially announced Friday, March 27 in the Oakland Center’s Fireside Lounge in front of an audience of around 100. Her ticket finished with 403 out of 892 total votes, a full 20 percent in front of the first runner-up, sophomore political science and international relations major Janelle Arbuckle, who finished with 226 votes. Arbuckle’s running mate was Nick McCormick, freshman communications and writing and rhetoric major.

Senior biology major Mark Medaugh followed with 20 percent, or 185 votes. Medaugh’s running mate was Ashley Marthen, junior human resources and development major.

Junior political science major and economics minor Anthony Ivone rounded out the pack with 71 total votes, 8 percent of the votes. Ivone’s running mate was Jackie Craite, freshman psychology major.

Both members of the ticket expressed a clear desire to move forward from the election onto fulfilling the promise of Dayag’s term, which will officially begin April 6.

“Now, we can actually step in and start working and we’re very excited,” Dayag said. “It’s our priority now to fill the legislature because want to start off next year on a good foot.”

“We want to make sure we get the best people out there for each position,” said Waquad on the search to fill the executive board, which she described as her “number one priority.” “Since we’ve been so involved with Congress, we know what the positions entail … and then, just implementing all of the plans we had.

The result comes after a long and painful campaign that saw all of the candidates battling student body apathy to try to win their votes.

Medaugh opined that none of the tickets were able to completely escape the shadow of the 2008 election winners, Steve Clark and running mate Dan Evola. Clark won with 580 of 1699 total votes cast in the most-participated in Oakland University’s student body election history.

“I don’t think any of the campaigns really campaigned as hard as any of the three last year,” Medaugh said. “Although there were some questionable tactics during the campaign, there wasn’t as much of a divide between all four of us. We were united as opposed to previous years. This whole problem of campus apathy is still a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Other results that were announced include the passage of Ballot Initiative 1, which effectively changed the percentage distribution of portions of tuition money. The Student Activities Funding Board will now receive 29 percent, the Student Program Board 26 percent, Student Congress 17 percent, WXOU 88.3 FM 11 percent, The Oakland Post seven percent, Student Video Productions five percent, Student Life Lecture Board three percent and Special Projects Fund two percent.

Also, 22 of the class of 2009-10 legislators were announced. The slots will be filled by current OUSC president Dan Evola, Cam Schea, Ashley Forton, Shane Engisch, Josh Snell, Michael Diedrich, Ryan Brandon, Nathan Maynard, Nick Dufour, Tom Muhs, Andrew O’Mara, Brett McIsaac, Kevin Costakes, Shakita Billy, Madison MccIntock, Brandon Gustafson, Chris Tobias, Jarret Schlaff, Jake Isley, Eric Sturgis and Bevan Lindsey.

There are still three legislator positions open.

Also, the other executive board positions — legislative affairs director, multicultural affairs director, student services director, financial affairs director, SAFB chair, Student Program board chair, public relations agent, administrative assistant —  will be open on April 6. These positions are filled by legislators voting yes or no on the student body president’s recommendation.