A total of 3590 votes were cast, equivalent to about 18% of the student population enrolled at the University of Otago, a significant increase over the last election, OUSA returning officer Jonathan Rowe said.
Mr Edgar (20) claimed his second term as president with 2454 votes - a 68% share of the total - from Dan Benson-Guiu (19), an arts student, who received 909 election votes.
"I'm ecstatic. I was confident about the result, but I was also nervous about whether [students] may have gotten sick of me during the past five months," Mr Edgar said.
Mr Edgar, a commerce student majoring in marketing, will lead the association into a new era as it contemplates a fiscally restrained future, brought about by the recent introduction of voluntary student membership.
A student referendum approved a 2012 budget for OUSA, which has slashed operational costs almost in half from more than $2.5 million to about $1.35 million.
Mr Edgar said OUSA was at a "pivotal point" and his main goal was to ensure it remained a "long-standing and successful" fixture of student life.
The drop in forecast revenue was expected and the OUSA budget "realistically reflects that", he said.
"We'll have to make do and tighten our belts," Mr Edgar said.
He will be joined on the OUSA executive by his younger brother Ryan (19), a first-year commerce student, who now has to choose either the finance and services or colleges and communications officer positions.
Mr Rowe said the student association constitution prevented any elected member from holding dual rolesRyan said he would "probably" choose the finance and services role on the executive - a decision which Mr Rowe said would probably mean a by-election early next year, given there was no other candidate to take up the colleges and communications role.
Art Kojarunchitt was elected administrative vice-president with 2430 votes.
Francisco Hernandez becomes welfare officer with 2225 votes, Aaspreet Boparai secures the role of education officer, with 2480 votes, and Blake Luff has claimed recreation with 1620 votes.
Victoria Koszowski will be the postgraduate representative.
