John Fabian and Meron Yemane, one of the three teams campaigning to be Undergraduate Student Government (USG) president and vice president, have withdrawn from the elections, hoping that the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) will soon be recognized by the administration.

"We want to be involved; we want to be student leaders," Fabian said. "But we feel USG isn't the mode to do it through."

Fabian said he and Yemane, who are Students for Real Advocacy members, are hoping their withdrawal will pressure the administration to make a decision regarding UPUA.

"The more we hear and the more feedback we get makes it seem like it's going to go through," Fabian said.

He said the duo intends to run for office in the possible UPUA elections.

"The time commitment people are putting in is ridiculous with everything still up in the air," Fabian said.

Nick Stathes, one of the remaining two presidential candidates, said he knew Fabian's withdrawal was possible but said using UPUA as the reason was "weak."

"There's been absolutely nothing to suggest since campaigning started that UPUA is going to be implemented sooner or even at all," he said.

Stathes said the recognition of UPUA should challenge USG candidates to work harder.

"Whether or not it's the recognized voice, it doesn't mean that positive change can't come from the organization," he said. "The implementation of UPUA means USG members need to fight harder than ever."

Stathes said he and his vice presidential candidate, Pat Daley, had been working with Kevin and Daniel Ward, the other executive campaign team, before they knew of the resignation.

"It's been very friendly between our two campaigns so far because we have a lot of similar ideas," Stathes said.

Daniel Ward said the new one-on-one election may be harder because the two remaining campaigns have similar platforms, but he does not think this will change much.

"We're going against them, and we're pretty confident," he said. "My brother and I feel that we're the best people."

Andrew Smith, deputy commissioner for voting and publicity, said this change has had little effect on the elections commission, but the resignation is a disservice to the student body.

"I think that having fewer candidates hurts rather than helps because you don't have as much choice when deciding who you want to vote for," Smith said. "It's not beneficial to the students."

He said the controversy between USG and UPUA was a major concern for this year's elections.

However, he said, the commission wasn't expecting any candidates to withdraw from the election.