The battle for the right to lead Vision Vancouver in this year’s municipal election will be decided through a preferential ballot, which means the winner could be the one who attracts the most second-place votes.

As the party’s three mayoral hopefuls scramble to recruit additional members before the sign-up drive closes on May 15, the camp of Gregor Robertson is indicating that the NDP Vancouver-Fairview MLA is geared up to convince nonsupporters to at least pick him as number two.

“I think that we have an argument to make that if he is not the first choice, he’s their best second choice,” Robertson spokesperson Brad Zubyk told the Georgia Straight.

Under the rules drawn up by the party’s executive committee, members will have to indicate their first and second preferences. After the count, the third and last candidate gets dropped, and the second preference indicated on ballots cast for the dropped candidate gets counted as a vote for either of the two remaining candidates.

While Zubyk maintained that the Robertson camp has signed up “thousands” for the nomination, he also said that the group is “cautiously optimistic” about the possible results of the preferential balloting system.

The Vision Vancouver nominating contest is on June 15, a week after the Non-Partisan Association decides who—Mayor Sam Sullivan or NPA councillor Peter Ladner—will represent the ruling party in the election.

“All those citizens who are concerned about Mr. Sullivan and the NPA’s performance, this is their chance to participate in the process to be part of the movement to change city government,” Zubyk said. “This is really the way to get involved most effectively at the grassroots.”

A former NDP strategist, Zubyk claimed that his candidate’s “broad-base appeal” will generate enough pull from among the constituencies of his rivals: city councillor Raymond Louie, an original Vision Vancouver member, and park commissioner Allan De Genova, a former NPA member.

“If you’re looking at broad positioning, Gregor draws support from federal Liberals, former NPA officials, union officials, traditional New Democrats, Green Party members, ethnic communities, [and] younger people,” he said. “He’s attracting NPA and COPE [Coalition of Progressive
Electors] and Vision members.”

However, Zubyk also said that the Robertson camp will leave it up to supporters to determine on their own whom they will put second on their ballot “as a matter of respect for our voters”.

Vision Vancouver councillor Tim Stevenson, a declared supporter of Robertson, told the Straight that he hopes his council colleague Louie will convince his followers to consider Robertson as their second choice. According to Stevenson’s forecast, Louie will come in third behind Robertson and De Genova in the first ballot count.

“I don’t believe there’s been any deals, but I am hopeful that having known him for all of these years and known his politics, that he [Louie] would support Gregor,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson is predicting that Sullivan will beat Ladner for the NPA nomination. Louie is giving no hint whatsoever about his second choice. “There’s no one that I’m supporting other than myself at this time,” Louie told the Straight.

The former union organizer and former COPE member wouldn’t be drawn into discussing which of his two rivals is more progressive. “I guess it’s how you define progressive,” Louie said. “It’s really about accomplishments, and about where and what you want to accomplish.”

De Genova, once a recruiting dynamo for the NPA, claimed in a phone interview that he won’t get an idea how the numbers game will finally work out until after the May 15 membership deadline. Back on March 28, De Genova called for a preferential ballot. In a media release on that date, De Genova explained that nominating conventions are “often more spectacle than transparent democratic process”, and that the party has “an opportunity to move beyond the smoke-filled rooms and arm-twisting that have frequently characterized competitive races”.

“With one vote, people can cast their ballot and then get on with their busy lives without having to wait out multiple ballots and the chaos and conflict that far too often come with old-style politics,” he wrote.