With all ballots counted early Tuesday morning, former Ward 11 councillor Jeromy Farkas appears poised to become Calgary’s next mayor, narrowly defeating Communities First leader Sonya Sharp.
Incumbent Mayor Jyoti Gondek conceded defeat before midnight on Monday. This is only the second time an incumbent mayor has not been re-elected since 1980.
Fewer than 600 votes — or 0.17 per cent of the total 348,626 ballots cast — separate the two frontrunners. On Tuesday afternoon, Sharp announced she’ll request a recount.
An optimistic-sounding Farkas thanked Gondek for her service over the last four years while addressing supporters at Festival Hall in Inglewood on Monday night.
“We know, I know, that you want the best for our city. You’ve proven that campaigns can be run with integrity and optimism,” said Farkas.
While Farkas didn’t declare victory, he was upbeat while addressing supporters.
“While we don’t know the results, I look forward to the next couple of hours and the next couple of days with you all,” said the former Ward 11 city councillor, making his second run for mayor.
“This is the unprecedented third speech that no one was expecting,” said Farkas, referring to the old practices of politicians writing both a victory speech and a concession speech.
Sharp remains optimistic
Sonya Sharp, who represented Ward 1 on city council and led Communities First in her first bid for Calgary’s top job, did not concede defeat on Monday night.
She told reporters that a year ago, she predicted that Farkas would be her biggest competitor for Calgary’s mayoral seat.
“And I said ‘sure bring it’ and I will do my best to represent myself and Communities First,” added Sharp.
Gondek concedes
In her concession speech, Gondek thanked Calgarians.
“Calgary, the world is watching us, and what they will continue to see is a city that is full of innovation, compassion and heart,” said Calgary’s first female mayor. “Our job now is to move forward together, to stay positive and to attract opportunity and show the best of who we are,” she added.
“I’m profoundly grateful for the privilege of having served this incredible city,” she said. “I am also proud to have run a campaign that was built on optimism and believing that politicians can still be grounded in goodness and solutions, and respect for one another,” said Gondek.
Party politics are not popular
This was the first election in Calgary to feature municipal parties, and it appears that partisan politics in municipal elections is not all that popular with voters.
Mount Royal University political science professor Duane Bratt told Global News the low turnout has been a “real repudiation” of party politics. He added the lack of support translated into a large block of undecided voters and a significant drop off in advanced voting numbers.
Low voter turnout
According to the City of Calgary, 96,549 Calgarians participated in advanced voting this year. That’s a drop of over 44,000 votes from the 2021 election.
At many polling stations, voters reported long waits when casting their ballots. This is the first municipal election following the governing United Conservative Party’s ban on using electronic vote-counting machines.
This year’s unofficial voter numbers show 202,424 Calgarians at the polls today, the second-lowest voter turnout in Calgary’s history.
Election officials expect the final results for council seats and school board trustees to be available in the following days.
-With files from Xander Holcomb, Darlene Aquino, Riley Stang, Bella Coco, Ava Free, Riley Fonger, Brennan French, Greg Derer, Ralph Saulog and Lama Al-Wadeiah