Dana Lajeunesse has apparently won a seat on Sooke’s District Council.
While the results will not be official until Monday morning at 10 a.m., initial counts have Lajeunesse as having captured 286 votes as opposed to 283 by Kevin Pearson, 265 by Britt Santowski, and 262 by Jeff Stewart.
The remaining candidates received the following vote counts: Herb Haldane, 82; Jeff McArthur, 58; Lorraine Pawlivsky-Love, 36; Mick Rhodes, 13; Kenneth Robar, 2; Christina Schlattner, 160.
Residents of Sooke went to the ballot box today (Sept.28) to choose a District councillor in a civic by-election necessitated by the untimely death of beloved former councillor Brenda Parkinson.
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Although officially 10 candidates were registered in the by-election, two–Kenneth Robar and Jeff McArthur– had informally made it public that they were no longer actively seeking the seat.
They had not officially withdrawn, however, meaning that their name remained on the ballot.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. and remained open for voting until 8 p.m.
A total of 1,447 votes were cast in total, with 370 votes having been cast in advance polls.
Historically, by-elections tend to attract between 10 and 20 per cent of the electorate.
The by-election in Sooke had roughly 9,000 eligible voters.
Upon hearing the results, Mayor Maja Tait said that she looks forward to welcoming Lajeunesse to Council.
“He ran a positive campaign and had some positive ideas on local economic development. I look forward to hearing more of his ideas once he is on Council.
Lajeunesse will likely be sworn in as a councillor at the second meeting of Council in October.
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