Impressive number of candidates gearing up for municipal byelections, says Elections N.B.

Ten municipalities will be looking to fill mayor and councillor vacancies in the province's next set of byelections in December, and the list of candidates is surprisingly long, according to Elections New Brunswick.

"It's not unusual for us to see very few candidates actually put their name forward at byelections," said Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth. "To have 10, four or even three candidates for a single position — it's impressive."

Saint John, where a city council vacancy opened in October when David Hickey was elected MLA, has 11 candidates running to represent the city's Ward 3. Poffenroth described that as "a significant number."

The responsibilities of an elected municipal government official include deciding the budget and determining the level of services needed, such as recreation, fire, police, snow-clearing and garbage collection.

In Beausoleil, five candidates are vying to become the next mayor. 

The majority of municipalities holding byelections on Dec. 9 have at least three candidates running.

Only two council vacancies have no candidates. Four municipalities that had vacancies only had one candidate, so they were elected by acclamation, according to Elections N.B. 

WATCH | N.B. chief electoral officer says high interest in byelections is 'impressive':

N.B. municipal byelections seeing unusually high number of candidates

6 days ago

Duration 2:22

Byelections are due to be held in more than a dozen municipalities next month, and more candidates than normal are running to fill mayor and councillor vacancies.

"To me, it shows that people are interested in serving their communities," Poffenroth said. "There may be some burning issues in those particular communities that have made people particularly interested in giving back."

Turnout for local byelections held last fall was 19 per cent, which Poffenroth described at the time as "typical."

Community members stepping up

The high number of candidates running for the vacancy in Saint John's Ward 3 may make it difficult for voters to choose a representative, especially in such a short time, said Randy Hatfield, executive director of the Human Development Council.

But he thinks the amount of interest speaks to the willingness of community members to step forward and "come up with possibilities for change" in what he says is a ward with significant challenges.

"What makes Ward 3 particular is that it is under-performing by most socioeconomic measures, whether it's the prevalence of lone parent families, the high levels of income poverty, the number of renters as opposed to property owners," Hatfield said. "There's lots to chew on."

According to a recent report by the group, the child poverty rate in Ward 3 is about double New Brunswick's average rate of child poverty. The report also says that Ward 3's child, senior and overall poverty rates are the highest of the city's four wards. 

The organization held a forum on Monday in which Hatfield, as moderator, asked what candidates considered the ward's top priorities and how they would address them. It was also a reminder to the community, Hatfield said, that an election is happening there.

Poffenroth said Saint John has a history of drawing high interest in running for council, with relatively high numbers of byelection candidates in the 1990s and the early 2000s, although they were all councillor-at-large positions at that time.

Saint John also doesn't often have municipal byelection vacancies, she said.

"So I would say this is somewhat reflective of past history in Saint John."

Fewer municipalities, demographics possible factors

Tom Bateman, a St. Thomas University political science professor, attributes some of the upsurge in candidacies across the province to municipal changes made in 2023, when the former Blaine Higgs-led government merged several municipalities in New Brunswick.

That may have led to fewer vacancies to run for, he said, though there are other factors to consider as well.

"It may be people animated by very particular issues that have arisen in their local areas. It might be an increasingly older population in New Brunswick with time on its hands to turn to some public service," he said.

Bateman said there have been similar increases in candidate numbers in elections for other levels of government.

"For example, the federal byelections in this country in 2024 have had bizarre numbers of candidates," he said. "There were about 50 candidates for the seat in the Winnipeg federal byelection earlier this year and in Toronto the number was about 100 or so candidates." 

He said that "anti-system resentments" may play a role in these increases at the federal level but may not necessarily be a large contributor on the municipal level. He also said the low level of participation that's typical in local races can be appealing to some who are looking to run.