Expert says this is shaping up to be ‘year of the incumbent’

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – With election day less than a week away, it looks like most civic voters are not in the mood for change.

“This would appear to be, perhaps with a few odd exceptions, the year of the incumbent” said Patrick Smith, a political science professor with Simon Fraser University. “And I think there are a bunch of reasons and some of them may not have much to do with civic politics at all.”

Many civic voters are paying close attention to world events.

“A lot of them know more about the Greek economy, and the Italian economy, and the Portuguese and Spanish and Irish economies” said the professor, alluding to the European debt crisis and concerns over the world economy.

As a result, Smith speculates that local voters might be happy to keep the status quo at city hall, instead of rocking the boat with new leadership in the community. Surrey, Richmond, and Burnaby are examples of communities where the incumbents are looking strong.

Civic election day across Metro Vancouver is Saturday, Nov. 19. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

News1130 has reporters in the field and in-depth coverage of all the happenings around the Lower Mainland on our Civic Election page, and will start broadcasting results shortly after the polls close.

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