Two hours after polls closed, it was official. Mary Fragedakis’ push to reach city council was successful, as she finished with 2,464 votes and 41 per cent of the total ballots in Ward 29/Toronto-Danforth.
It was a close race, but in the end it appears that Jane Pitfield’s right-of-centre stance didn’t sit well with area residents.
Fragedakis’ campaign had a heavily green theme, with talk of thicker tree canopies in residential areas and an adventurous push for more solar power.
It went down to the wire in Ward 26/Don Valley West but nothing changed, as incumbent John Parker held off a strong fight from retired Toronto police officer John Burnside.
Burnside stayed within less than a percentage point of Parker from the moment polls closed and votes started coming in to the moment results were finalized at about 10:30 p.m. Monday evening.
Of course Parker is no stranger to close races. In 2006 he barely edged Mohamed Dhanani for the win. Dhanani actually pulled closer to Parker last election than Burnside did this year.
Overall, it was an impressive running for Burnside as he managed to overtake returning candidate Dhanani this year by just over 100 votes.
Ward 31/Beaches-East York went pretty much as expected, with incumbent Janet Davis winning by a wide margin – 11,177 votes (a staggering 63% of ballots cast) over nearest competitor Robert Walker, who finished with 1,945 votes.
For Davis, that is a 2,187-vote improvement over last election, but a two per cent drop in her total votes.
The raw results, with all polls now reporting:
– In Ward 26/Don Valley West: Parker – 6203 votes (31%)
– In Ward 29/Toronto-Danforth: Fragedakis – 7430 votes (42%)
– In Ward 31/Beaches-East York: Davis 11,177 votes (63%)