Olivia Chow celebrates her victory at an election night gathering on June 26.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Olivia Chow won the Toronto mayoral election on Monday in a race that turned out to be surprisingly competitive against former city councillor Ana Bailão.
There were 102 candidates running in a campaign that largely focused on major issues facing the city, including housing affordability and concerns about public safety. Ms. Chow will replace John Tory, who resigned earlier this year after acknowledging an affair with a staffer in his office.
Ms. Chow won with 37 per cent of the vote, while Ms. Bailão was second with 32 per cent. Former Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, who was endorsed by Premier Doug Ford, was a distant third with 8 per cent.
Ms. Bailão appeared to benefit from a late-campaign surge after she was endorsed by former mayor John Tory, but it was not enough to defeat Ms. Chow, who maintained a significant lead in public opinion polls throughout the campaign.
Ms. Chow dominated in the downtown core, winning around half of the vote in the ridings of Spadina-Fort York (49.7 per cent), Toronto-Danforth (51.9 per cent), Toronto Centre (54.6 per cent), University-Rosedale (46.9 per cent), Parkdale-High Park (50 per cent) and Davenport (49.8 per cent), which was Ms. Bailão’s former riding as councillor.
Ms. Bailão had her strongest support in the northwest of Toronto: York Centre (41.5 per cent), Eglinton-Lawrence (46.8 per cent), Don Valley West (43.1 per cent), York South-Weston (39.3 per cent), Etobicoke Centre (44.7 per cent) and Etobicoke-Lakeshore (40.2 per cent).
Voter turnout in Monday’s by-election was significantly higher than the general election last year, when just 29 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in an election that saw Mr. Tory easily win without any serious competition. The estimated turnout for this week’s vote is 38 per cent of eligible voters, or almost 725,000 votes. There was also a 12 per cent increase in ballots cast during advance voting, almost 130,000 votes, compared to last year’s municipal election.
Of the 102 names on the ballot, Ms. Chow and Ms. Bailão took the vast majority of votes, with several candidates who had been considered frontrunners during the campaign garnering scant support. Mr. Saunders came in a distant third, while columnist Anthony Furey had five per cent and city councillor Josh Matlow (who maintains his role after the by-election) received 4.9 per cent of the votes. Several others who were considered among the frontrunners during the campaign each finished in the low single digits.