COPE and OneCity win Vancouver City Council seats in by-election | Daily Hive

COPE and OneCity candidates win Vancouver City Council seats in by-election

COPE's Sean Orr (left) and OneCity's Lucy Maloney (right). (COPE | OneCity Vancouver)

Voters have elected COPE candidate Sean Orr and OneCity Vancouver candidate Lucy Maloney as the two new Vancouver city councillor candidates, according to the preliminary results of the Vancouver City Council by-election held on Saturday, April 5, 2025.

As of 12:50 a.m. Sunday, with all 27 polling stations reporting their counts, including the two advance polls, Orr has taken the commanding lead of 34,448 votes, while Maloney has come second with 33,732 votes.

Orr is a Downtown Eastside activist, a safe supply and harm reduction supporter, and a longtime contributor to Scout Magazine. In late 2024, he completed his studies at Simon Fraser University, earning a Bachelor of Arts with a focus in political science and geography.

The result is a notable upswing for Orr, whose October 2022 general civic election run with the VOTE Socialist Vancouver party ended in a distant 36th-place finish with 13,744 ballots.

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Maloney is best known for her bike lane activism and was particularly critical of the ABC Vancouver party’s removal of the Stanley Park Drive bike lane. She holds both an MBA and a law degree, and previously worked in environmental law for a state regulator in Australia before transitioning to a career in business.

ABC candidates come last among major party candidates

Both newly elected candidates will now join Green Party councillor Pete Fry and independent councillor Rebecca Bligh on the opposition side of the chamber.

However, the outcome represents a net loss of one seat for the Greens, which had hoped to retain it through its candidate, Annette Reilly.

Trailing the COPE and OneCity candidates are Colleen Hardwick of the TEAM For A Livable Vancouver party, a former city councillor and 2022 mayoral candidate who has received 17,352 votes, and Reilly of the Greens, who has secured 15,045 votes.

The other TEAM candidate of Theodore Abbott has earned 11,581 votes.

In a notable reversal of the governing party’s landslide victory in the 2022 general civic election, the two candidates of Mayor Ken Sim’s ABC Vancouver party have trailed all other civic party candidates, with tech executive Jaime Stein receiving 9,267 votes and Vancouver Police officer and police union president Ralph Kaisers with 8,915 votes.

vancouver city council 2027 by-election results

Preliminary results of the Vancouver City Council by-election as of 12:50 am Sunday, April 6, 2025, with all 27 polling stations reporting their counts. (City of Vancouver)

A total of 13 candidates ran in this City Council by-election, with the six remaining candidates — who ran as independents — receiving fewer than 700 votes each.

Higher by-election turnout of 15%, despite hours-long waits

The first results began to roll in at approximately 11 p.m. Saturday, about three hours after polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. Due to hours-long waits and long lines at many polling stations throughout the day — continuing into the evening — voters still in line at 8 p.m. were accommodated.

Just after 9 p.m., the City told Daily Hive Urbanized that 15 of the 25 polling stations were still open. Ballot counting began only after the final vote was cast at all locations.

This was the long snaking line for the Vancouver City Council by-election polling station at West End Community Centre earlier this afternoon.

It wrapped around the block.

A common sight today at many polling stations. #vanpoli #vanelxn https://t.co/a3iJrTJhyt pic.twitter.com/Mth1wJFB2k

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) April 6, 2025

With 25 polling stations open on the main voting day of Saturday, this represents a 50 per cent decrease from the 50 polling stations that were made available in the previous by-election in October 2027 to fill one vacant city councillor seat and nine vacant Vancouver School Board trustees seats.

City staff’s planning and execution of this by-election have faced significant criticism — with poorer performance and outcomes despite a higher budget of $2 million, which is $500,000 more than was allocated for the October 2017 by-election and $700,000 more than what was ultimately spent.

“The City of Vancouver’s Elections Office appreciates Vancouverite’s commitment to participating in the By-election and the patience they are demonstrating when voting… The Election Office modelled this by-election off data from the past two by-elections, and so far, this by-election has had significantly higher voter turnout comparatively,” the City told Daily Hive Urbanized on Saturday afternoon upon inquiry.

“The Election Office is heartened to see the community’s commitment to participating in this democratic process, especially when by-elections have historically had low voter turnout.”

trout lake community centre april 5 2025 vancouver by-election line f

Long snaking line at the Trout Lake Community Centre polling station for the Vancouver City Council by-election on April 5, 2025. (Submitted)

Overall, despite the long waits that tested the patience of voters, the April 2025 by-election’s total number of 67,962 voters was approximately 40 per cent higher than the October 2017 by-election.

This also marks a higher turnout of 15.1 per cent of registered voters — an increase from the 48,645 ballots cast, or 10.99 per cent turnout, in the October 2017 by-election.

It also represents approximately 40 per cent of the total number of votes in the October 2022 general civic election, when 171,494 ballots were cast for a turnout of 36.3 per cent of registered voters. In that regular election, all seven ABC city councillor candidates won their seats with between 62,393 and 72,545 votes — significantly more than the top-performing non-ABC candidate, who received 41,831 votes.

This April 2025 by-election also saw a record-breaking advance voting turnout, with 7,671 ballots cast over two days at the sole advance voting location — Vancouver City Hall.

That included 2,876 advance votes on Wednesday, March 26, and 4,795 on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. This marks an 84 per cent increase compared to the advance voting period for the October 2017 by-election, which was also held over two days at City Hall. As well, it exceeds the previous record of about 2,500 ballots cast at a single voting location in any election.

The City reports that, of the more than 6,400 mail-in ballot packages requested before the deadline, a total of 5,430 ballots were successfully cast by mail before Saturday evening’s cutoff, representing about eight per cent of the voter turnout. The mail-in ballot option was significantly expanded, as it had previously been limited to certain eligibility criteria in the last by-election.

The City will declare the official by-election results on April 9, 2025.

britannia community centre vancouver city council by-election april 5 2025 line

Long snaking line at the Britannia Community Centre polling station for the Vancouver City Council by-election on April 5, 2025. (Submitted)

This by-election was held to fill two vacant city councillor seats following the resignations of OneCity councillor Christine Boyle, who stepped down in December 2024 after being elected as the new MLA for Vancouver–Little Mountain under the BC NDP in last fall’s provincial election, and Green councillor Adriane Carr, who resigned in January 2025 after 14 years in civic political office.

ABC still holds majority control in City Council

With tonight’s preliminary results, the two City Council seats previously vacated by opposition members remain with the opposition, while ABC maintains its governing majority with an unchanged seven of the 11 seats in the chamber, including that of Mayor Ken Sim.

While a setback for Mayor Sim and his governing party, the by-election’s outcome still preserves the current City Council composition and power balance through to the next scheduled general civic election in October 2026.

Throughout the by-election campaign, the COPE, OneCity, and Green parties have largely focused their criticism on ABC’s approach to climate action, bike lanes, homelessness, affordable housing, supportive housing, renter considerations, deference to private developers, and pro-business and economic development strategies, as well as its proposed abolition of the elected Park Board, its emphasis on increased policing for public safety, and its overall style of governance.

thunderbird community centre vancouver city council by-election line april 5 2025 voting election f

Long snaking line at the Thunderbird Community Centre polling station for the Vancouver City Council by-election on April 5, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

TEAM, on the other hand, has concentrated much of its critique on ABC’s densification policies and support for high-rise tower developments, including the continued rollout of the Broadway Plan.

TEAM has described this by-election as a mid-term referendum on the performance of ABC and Mayor Ken Sim — something that is often the case with by-elections.

A favourable result for Sim’s ABC team could have been interpreted as a public vote of confidence in its leadership and agenda, reinforcing its mandate ahead of the next general election.

ABC maintains that it has made significant progress on housing affordability and supply — efforts it says will yield long-term results through high-density, transit-oriented development, and expedited and simplified development processes.

The party also points to improvements in government efficiency, public safety, public disorder, street cleanliness, and crime reduction, with enhanced policing strategies as one of the necessary tools. They also believe that a shake-up of the “status quo” approaches in the Downtown Eastside is necessary to implement positive outcomes over the long term.

Despite its sweeping win in the 2022 general civic election, ABC has seen a decline in its influence midway through its term, having lost its supermajority control on both the Park Board — driven by Sim’s political gamble of his proposal to disband the elected Park Board — and the School Board.

In the previous by-election in October 2017, Hector Bremner of the Non-Partisan Association won the contested City Council seat with 13,372 votes — over 3,000 more votes than the next candidate. Nine candidates ran in this previous by-election race. That by-election was seen as a rebuke of the Vision Vancouver party’s decade-long governance of the City.

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