Number of municipalities in British Columbia that have elected Mayors unanimously is growing.

Though the Municipal elections are scheduled for October 15, 37 municipalities have already elected their Mayors unopposed.

In the 2018 elections, the number of Mayors elected unopposed was 36.

Interestingly, there are municipalities that will witness multi-corner contests, not only for the office of mayor but also for Councillor and School Board Trustees.

Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Port Clements, Highlands, Duncan, Fraser Lake, Houston, Kent, Silverton, Sidney, and Vale mount are among the municipalities that have already elected their Mayors without a vote being cast.

On the other hand, Surrey, one of the biggest cities of British Columbia, has eight contestants in the Mayoral race. They include four candidates of Indian descent – Amrit Birring, Sukh Dhaliwal,  Kuldip Pelia and Jinny Sims.

Sukh Dhaliwal has been a Member of House of Commons while Jinny Sims is a member of BC Provincial Assembly. Earlier, she also sat in the House of Commons.

There are 23 candidates of Indian origin running for Councillors and seven are seeking election as School Board Trustees in Surrey.

Municipalities like Surrey witnessing multi-corner contests on one hand and municipalities with Mayors elected unopposed provide the contrasting civic managements.

The growing trend of unanimous election of Mayors has generated a debate. Many hold that  indifference of people to elections in general and municipal elections in particular is a serious issue. Others, however, hold that unanimity is a positive trend that can propel the local governments to carry out various welfare schemes and programmes.

 The trend of mayoral candidates winning uncontested was not good for democracy. Social scientists hold that this trend demonstrates the depth of people’s disengagement from municipal politics.

They hold that “If you don’t have enough people interested to run and if you don’t have a critical diversity of representation in the municipal councils, then you won’t get the local communities represented.

“If you’ve got the same kind of people running all of the time, then where is the innovation? Where is the creativity? Where are the voices that are so often not heard at the political table?,” they argue.

They have a point. For a vibrant and participative democracy, involvement of people at large has to be ensured. Now those in control of things have to think of ways and manners to maximize people’s participation in municipal elections.

Prabhjot Singh

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