Discussions between the two contesting GUSA executive tickets ended without any breakthroughs Wednesday, but a conclusion to the two-month-long ordeal appears close. Adam Giblin (SFS ’06) indicated that he was prepared to concede the election if the Constitutional Council rules in favor of Kelley Hampton (SFS ’05) and Luis Torres (COL ’05).

Last week Hampton, Torres, Giblin and Eric Lashner (COL ’05) announced that they had been in ongoing private discussions moderated by GUSA adviser Erika Cohen Derr to try and resolve the election.

Appeals have been thrown back and forth since February when the ticket of Hampton and Torres received the highest number of votes but was disqualified because of over expenditure of campaign funds, largely due to fines.

“Adam, Eric, Kelley and I said we would work together from the start of the election, before the campaigns even started,” Torres said. “We said that no matter what happens, we will work together. We are now keeping that word.”

Giblin said Wednesday that few compromises were being made during the discussions. Several scenarios were discussed in the meetings but none appeared to be plausible.

“Last week it seemed like we might be able to form a coalition or else have the vice president of whoever ends up on top drop out,” he said. “But today it was clear that that won’t work.”

Torres maintained that the discussions would continue. “[The discussions] are ongoing,” he said Wednesday evening. “Nothing new has come up.”

The Constitutional Council must still rule and has decided against a new hearing and a decision could be rendered as early as this evening. The council ruled in favor of Hampton and Torres last time, overturning four fines for alleged campaign violations that included the sending of an improper e-mail and the placing of flyers inside THE HOYA to rebut an editorial that supported Giblin and Lashner.

Refraining from conceding the election outright, Giblin said that there was little chance that the Constitutional Council would rule in his favor.

“We assume that they will rule like they did last time,” he said.

After the Constitutional Council ruled against Giblin and Lasher, the ticket brought a new appeal to the Election Commission, alleging that the fines against Hampton and Torres had been too lenient. The Election Commission approved the new fines and also ruled that they had caused “irreparable harm,” meriting automatic disqualification.

The “irreparable harm” allegation had to be approved by the GUSA Assembly in order for the disqualification to hold, and the assembly voted against the decision, 7-1-1. Of the 16 students on the assembly, 10 of them worked for the Hampton-Torres campaign and three worked for the Giblin-Lashner campaign.

Torres agreed with Giblin’s assessment. “The Election Commission disqualified us on two things: one was addressed by the assembly, the other needs to be addressed by the Constitutional Council. The Constitutional Council, however, has already ruled on the issue of THE HOYA. They have already deliberated on whether or not it was a misuse of university property,” he said.

Giblin indicated that he was not pleased with the Constitutional Council’s lack of professionalism up to this point. While wishing Hampton and Torres the best of luck under the assumption that the Constitutional Council rules in their favor, he also indicated that he intends no connection with GUSA in the future.

“Eric and I want to reach our goals, and having `GUSA’ attached to my e-mails probably only hurts me at this point anyway,” he said.

Lashner expanded on their frustration and their future plans saying, “Adam and I are working together to gather a group of people to talk about our vision of Georgetown for next year. We plan on meeting this weekend regardless of the outcome of the election. We are frustrated with Hampton-Torres’ unwillingness to take part in such discussions until the Constitutional Council rules.”

Still without a final decision on an executive election, the Election Commission has decided to go forward with class representative elections that had been delayed indefinitely. Campaigning will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday and continue through 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. Voting will take place all day on Thursday and no official debate will be held although the candidates are free to organize their own. The Assembly must approve the executive election results before it can approve the Assembly election results and dissolve for the year.