Harry Gough won the race for mayor in Peachland by one vote, but whether he will actually take on the role remains to be seen.
Incumbent mayor Cindy Fortin took to Facebook to tell Peachlanders that she will not concede the race that Gough took with 804 votes to her 803.
“I did ask for a re-count and the double-checking of addresses, because one vote could make a difference. I don’t know if I will get it, but felt that I had to ask for one since it was so close. So, I will wait to concede or not, based on what the outcome of that is,” said Fortin, in the post.
Fortin went on to say that a one vote loss isn’t easy to swallow, but she felt it did show that there was a lot of support for her re-election.
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“Chins up! We did well, and should be proud of our efforts,” she said.
Roughly 52 per cent of Peachlanders cast a ballot, and the new council will be comprised of Patrick Van Minsel, Pete Coolio, incumbent Coun. Terry Condon, incumbent Coun. Pam Cunningham, Keith Fielding and incumbent Coun. Mike Kent will form Peachland’s new council.
Peachland isn’t the only city where the mayoral seat is up for grabs. At least 10 cities saw a mayoral winner pull ahead by less than 100 votes.
Both North Cowichan and Port Edward saw their mayors elected by only 10 votes.
In North Cowichan, Al Siebring knocked out incumbent Jon Lefebure with 3,017 votes to Lefebure’s 3,007.
Port Edward saw Knut Bjorndal get 113 votes, 10 ahead of incumbent Dave MacDonald.
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The Village of Chase saw Rod Crowe pull out 11 votes ahead of David Lepsoe, while in Midway, Martin Fromme got 15 more votes than incumbent Doug McMynn.
In Valemount, Owen Torgerson beat out Sandy Salt with 145 votes to her 126.
Over in Chetwynd, newcomer Allen Courtoreille won over Alec Brownlee by 24 votes, while over on Vancouver Island, Michelle Staples beat out Martin Barker by 26 votes to take the reigns in Duncan.
In Belcarra, Neil Belenkie pulled ahead of Cameron James Ross by just 29 votes and over in the Kootenays, Creston’s incumbent Ron Toyota beat William Hutchinson by 70 votes.
—with files from Katya Slepian
