Municipalities are breathing a sigh of relief after Elections New Brunswick reversed plans to delay the municipal byelections in December.
Wayne Sturgeon, president of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick, said the decision came after a meeting he had with the chief electoral officer.
“We took the time to listen to each other and to what the challenges that we each were facing and how we could overcome those challenges,” Sturgeon said.
Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth planned to postpone the byelections until May to focus on preparing for a snap provincial election.
But on Friday, Poffenroth announced she had reconsidered those plans and will now hold the byelections on December 10.
Great news! Thank you to Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth for hearing our concerns and restoring municipal by-elections to December! https://t.co/auPvRRqmWb #nbpoli
— UMNB (@MunicipalNB) October 19, 2018
“In a minority situation, of course, an election is possible at any time. I mean, that’s the fact of the matter,” Sturgeon said. “But what we do know is that we have municipalities that were being held up right now.”
Sturgeon said some municipal councils do not have enough members due to vacancies and the delay would have hurt their ability to function.
Twenty municipalities have officially declared council vacancies and Elections NB says it is waiting for official notification from two other communities.
Photo: Wayne Sturgeon, president of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick (Submitted by UMNB)
Story by Brad Perry
Twitter: @BradMPerry
Email: perry.brad@radioabl.ca
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