Nick Francis was elected as the 33rd Queen’s rector tonight, edging out five competitors.

He won with 52 per cent of the student vote in the third round of preferential voting. Mike Cannon, Asad Chishti and Robyn Laing tied for second. David Myers came in third and Laura Stairs finished in fourth place.

“It doesn’t really feel real, it’s been a long journey,” Francis said after the announcement. “I don’t think people know how badly I want to give back to the University.”

Francis, ArtSci ’13, said his first order of business is to get acquainted with his position.

“I’m going to have meetings with as many people as possible,” he said. “I’ll meet with the AMS and [Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS)] presidents if they have time.”

This is Francis’ second time running for rector. He ran in January 2010 elections and lost to Nick Day.

Francis said the campaign was a footnote to what he wants to do as rector.

“It wouldn’t be fair to students to take a break, I’m going to try my best to continue the visibility,” he said. “I want to start working on revitalizing Queen’s spirit.”

Roughly 10 members of the AMS and SGPS election teams visited Francis’ house to announce his victory. There were approximately 40 supporters at his campaign party.

“In the third round Nick won an outright majority,” said AMS Commissioner of Internal Affairs Mark Preston.

Because the voting was preferential, Preston said there was no outright winner for second, third or fourth place.

“They all tied for second,” Preston, ArtSci ’11, said, adding that the votes between Myers and Stairs were “pretty close.”

– With files from Catherine Owsik

This article has been changed to reflect the following clarification. Nick Francis won with 52 per cent of the student vote in the third round of preferential voting.