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It’s over.

The arduous and costly battle by the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill University to extricate itself from the grasp of the Canadian Federation of Students has ended with an overwhelming majority of PGSS students voting to disaffiliate from the CFS in a referendum held last week.

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A minimum of 10 per cent of the PGSS’s 8,000 members were required to vote in the referendum, but more than 25 per cent voted — and 97 per cent of them voted in favour of decertification from the CFS.

“It’s extraordinary,” said Jonathan Mooney, ex-president of the PGSS, who has led the battle to leave the CFS. The fight started in 2010 and has cost the association at least $400,000. The PGSS has questioned the organization’s transparency, efficacy and fees now amounting to about $120,000 a year.

The early morning celebration when the results came in led to some dancing on tables, he admitted.

“The more the CFS tried to make it difficult for students to vote, the more they energized students to get out and vote,” Mooney said.