St. Vital residents headed to the polls Saturday to elect a new city councilor. Unofficial results show Brian Mayes won with 3,623 votes. He beat out second place finisher Mike Ducharme. According to the city, voter turnout for the byelection was 12.69 per cent, unofficially.
Mayes was one of ten candidates vying for the seat. The other candidates were: Ducharme, Greg Nordman, Steven Hennessey, Hammad Khan, Beverley Watson, Carl Osato, Terry Wachniak, Harry Wolbert, and Marty Green.
The ward's byelection was called after its former councilor, Gord Steeves stepped down earlier this year to run in October's provincial election.
Political blogger, Colin Fast told CTV News the winner of the St. Vital seat has the potential to shift the balance of power at city hall.
"If whoever wins the race today is more on the left side of the political spectrum it could make it more difficult for the mayor to get his policies through."
There were two other byelections Saturday. Mark Wasyliw was elected school trustee in Winnipeg Ward one of the Winnipeg School Division and Colleen Mayer was voted in as school trustee in Louis Riel School Division Ward 2.
-With a report from CTV's Ina Sidhu
