Mayor Gregor Robertson held on to the mayor's chair Saturday night with a comfortable win over his NPA rival Suzanne Anton.
Early results featured a seesaw battle between Robertson and Anton for the lead, and NPA and Vision candidates trading places for the majority of spots on council. But soon Robertson edged away from Anton and took the lead for the rest of the night while Vision moved ahead of NPA for a majority on council. Cut out entirely of council at press time were COPE, which had two seats going into the election, Adriane Carr of the Greens and high profile independents like Sandy Garossino who's hope for a breakthrough as an independent candidate was shattered by the city's civic party powerhouses. At press time, Carr was in a tight race for the final council spot with Mike Klassen of the NPA, COPE's Ellen Woodsworth and the NPA's Bill Yuen, who held the lead. Carr's election would amount to a civic electoral coup for the Greens.
Vision returned all its incumbents on council-Raymond Louie, Kerry Jang, Andrea Reimer, Tim Stevenson, Heather Deal and Geoff Meggs. Vision newcomer Tony Tang joined his colleagues to win a seat. The NPA mounted a comeback of sorts on council by going from one to three seats with newcomers George Affleck and Bill Yuen joining former councillor Elizabeth Ball, who returned to council after her defeat in 2008.
COPE, the city's historic left wing party, had an especially painful night by being shut out of all three civic races, with only one candidate, Allen Wong, gaining a seat on school board. Veteran COPE incumbent Ellen Woodsworth failed to crack the top 10.
Vancouver's civic election began quietly, with polls and pundits giving Vision Vancouver's incumbent Mayor Gregor Robertson an excellent chance of re-election. His opponent Anton came out swinging early in the summer with repeated jabs at Robertson and Vision over bike lanes, backyard chickens and the city's green dreams. But it wasn't until protesters camped out on the north plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery that Anton found an issue that gained notice among voters. Anton pushed the city to close the tent city down while criticizing Robertson for first supporting and then dithering on the Occupy issue. Days before election days, some polls suggested the gap between frontrunner Robertson and Anton had narrowed. But Robertson and Vision also clamped down on the Occupy protest in the campaign's waning days by successfully seeking an injunction to have the tents on the site removed.
Robertson, a former NDP MLA and juice company founder, was first elected in 2008 under the Vision Vancouver banner.
Vancouver held its first election in 1886.
