In a surprising win, Emmanuella Lambropoulos has been chosen to represent the federal Liberals in Montreal’s Saint-Laurent byelection.
The 26-year-old credits hard work and the Greek community for her win.
“I was very, very happy, along with the rest of the Greek community,” Spiros Gomatos said.
“It’s always good to have one of our own representing us.”
“Look at the electoral trends around the world. People want authentic candidates, they want people from the community,” added Petro Voloukos.
READ MORE: Emmanuella Lambropoulos wins nomination for Liberals in Saint-Laurent byelection
Lambropoulos said she was shocked when she won the Liberal nomination.
The high school teacher said she went door-to-door every night for over a month leading up to the vote.
“A lot of footwork, a lot of groundwork that gets people motivated to come and vote,” Lambropoulos said, who was born and raised in Saint-Laurent.
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Borough Mayor Alan De Sousa says he wasn’t surprised that the local teacher took the nomination.
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His candidacy was rejected by the Liberal Party.
“The message is that parachute candidates are not a good idea in local communities,” he told Global News.
“That percolated in the community for many days, before finally manifesting itself in the results that you saw,” De Sousa said.
READ MORE: Alan DeSousa loses appeal to run for Liberals in Saint-Laurent byelection
Lambropoulos will face off against the NDP’s Mathieu Auclair, Conservative Jimmy Yu and the Green Party’s Daniel Green.
Her Greek supporters say they hope to carry her through to another victory.
“There’s a lot of Greeks here and it’s time to express themselves,” Tasso Petrolekas said.
The Saint-Laurent byelection is set for April 3.