The unofficial winner of Calgary’s mayoral race is Jeromy Farkas, according to the vote tally on Elections Calgary.
He narrowly edged out another leading candidate and knocked out the city’s incumbent in Monday night’s election.
With 380 of 380 polls reporting, Farkas has 91,065 votes — a 585 vote difference from the runner up Sonya Sharp with 90,480 votes as of Tuesday morning, according to Elections Calgary.
Incumbent mayor Jyoti Gondek, who was Calgary’s first female mayor, trailed behind in third place with 71,397 votes.
Gondek conceded late Monday night, and said it was the honour of her life to serve as Calgary’s 37th mayor.
Municipalities across Alberta cast their ballots to elect their mayor, city councillors and school board trustees on Monday.
In Calgary, there are more than 896,000 eligible Calgarians registered to vote. Fewer than 350,000 cast their vote in the race for mayor, according to Elections Calgary.
Unofficially, about 10.7 per cent of eligible voters, or about 96,549 people, cast their ballot in the advance poll that was held from Oct. 6 to Oct. 11. Voting at advanced polls was down more than 30 per cent in both Calgary and Edmonton compared to the last election cycle.
Results have taken longer than usual following new provincial legislation, passed by the UCP government in 2024, where all the ballots will need to be counted by hand instead of machine.
Long lines and wait times also plagued several voting stations. People reported waiting as long as two hours to cast their ballot and long lineups of people were seen spilling outside and wrapped around buildings.
Elections Calgary blamed the long delays on new provincial legislation (Bill 20) that requires election workers to check a new “permanent electors register” to confirm a person’s eligibility to vote. If voters weren’t on the register, they could still vote but must produce one piece of government-issued ID, in addition to proof of their current address such as a lease agreement or bank statement.
The problem has been exacerbated by the Canada Post strike because in past elections, registered voters would’ve received a voter information card in the mail.
Global News will provide further updates on city councillor results as it becomes available.
— With files from Global News’ Ken MacGillivray & Karen Bartko