Ballots are being counted across British Columbia after polls closed in the province's municipal elections on Saturday, and on Vancouver's North Shore the early verdict favours incumbency: all three sitting mayors were fending off their challengers as results came in, the Vancouver Sun reported.
The North Shore result was among the first clear patterns of the night in Metro Vancouver. In the City of Vancouver itself, the marquee question remained whether Mayor Ken Sim would win a second term, with his council majority also on the line after a term dominated by housing, public safety and the city's finances.
Elsewhere in the region, early counts showed a close mayoral race in Langley Township, where Lundgren led a tight contest, and a two-party fight for mayor and council in New Westminster. In Delta, a former heir apparent's challenge to the incumbent mayor was among the races still being tallied late Saturday.
The municipal vote drew from a field of roughly 3,500 candidates provincewide for councils, school boards and regional posts. It also overlapped with advance voting in B.C.'s snap provincial election, which concludes October 24 — a double campaign that local officials said confused some voters but coincided with record advance turnout in several cities, including Vancouver.
