With three tickets competing in this year’s election, it came as no great shock that the winning party is a split ticket.

By a margin of 86 votes, junior Matt Love of “The Next Step” ticket edged out sophomore Tricia Fechter of “Building A Legacy.” Junior Christopher Avery, of “The Next Step,” won by an even smaller lead of 27 votes against freshman Pat Contreras of the “Building A Legacy” ticket. The remaining three “Building A Legacy” candidates-Michael Cappel, Babette Thornton and Brian Altenhofen-were all elected on Monday.

Election Commissioner Meghan Clune said she wasn’t surprised by this year’s elections results because of the candidates’ qualifications. “I’m in the middle of everything, and I never felt that there was a strong pull for one ticket as a whole,” Clune said.

Clune served on a split ticket during Student Government Association president Jay Perry’s first term in 1999-00. Clune, who had run on the ticket opposite Perry’s, was elected to the office of Academic Vice President by a margin of 41 votes.

Love doesn’t foresee any major challenges to working with the other three members of the “Building A Legacy” ticket. “I think we all want the same basic things,” Love said. “It’s just a matter of how we get there.”

Avery noted that the tickets took opposing stances on some specific issues, including the implementation of a grandfather clause to freeze tuition. “The Next Step” had supported the idea, but “Building A Legacy” did not. Both tickets also took different approaches to the revision Saint Louis University’s curriculum.

“There are some differences-some minor, some not,” Avery said. “If anything, [the split ticket] will be a good thing, allowing for a better resolution of any problems.”

SGA president-elect Cappel said that he plans to sit down with all of the elected executive board members soon. “I think we’re all professionals with generally the same ideas about improving student services,” Cappel said. “Some form of compromise is necessary. We need to respect each other’s views but make sure we’re all on the same page.”

“It’ll be interesting to see how it works out,” Avery said. “But knowing the maturity of all the candidates, we’ll step in, buck up and move forward.”

As the only person selected from her ticket in 1999, Clune said she was able to blend her personal ideas with those of the other candidates. “The primary approach is for everyone to sit down together and focus on maintaining the goals from their campaigns,” she said, “just so you don’t have conflict later.”