Student Government Attorney General Ali Sartawi resigned from his position effective Feb. 18, citing a potential conflict of interest with the upcoming Spring 2022 election as the reason for leaving. 

Sartawi was sworn in as the Attorney General, a vacant position for approximately three months, in Nov. 2021. He said he’d become interested in joining SG after meeting and speaking to SG President Selma Besirevic, whom he met coincidentally at Dick’s Sporting Goods. 

The previous Supervisor of Elections and Deputy Elections Commissioner left SG before the start of the Spring 2022 election process. While SG is actively searching to fill the position, the responsibilities of the Supervisor of Elections were given to Sartawi. 

“Fulfilling both the Supervisor of Elections and Attorney General positions presents a clear conflict of interest that I fear will impact the elections,” Sartawi wrote in his resignation letter.

Sartawi told Spinnaker he did not see the additional responsibility as overwhelming. “It was pretty manageable. It was just that the integrity of the organization is the number one priority to me,” he said.

With integrity in mind, Sartawi viewed running the election as a conflict of interest after Besirevic announced she will be running for president, hoping for a second term. 

“Considering that my boss, Selma, was running, I just felt like it would not make it a level playing field if I was, you know, doing both jobs at the same time. It kind of created a potential conflict of interest,” he explained.

While his time as Attorney General ended prematurely, Sartawi hopes to return to SG in the future. Recently, he has applied for the Supervisor of Election position.

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