The level of voter engagement in local Calgary elections may chronically be lower than federal or provincial contests, but there have been some real turnout stinkers in the city’s modern history.
In 2004, when incumbent mayor Dave Bronconnier ran against a low-profile field highlighted by a notorious political gadfly , a mere 19.8 per cent of eligible voters bothered to show up. Turnout was down at 23.4 per cent when Al Duerr won re-election in 1995, earning more than 100,000 votes while nobody else scored more than 3,000.
There’s widespread concern about plunging turnout as Mayor Jyoti Gondek is seeking a second term, too. But unlike those past examples, polls suggest this is nothing resembling a cakewalk for Calgary’s first female mayor — in fact, she’s in an apparent dogfight to keep her job against several experienced competitors, and to avoid being the first city leader to be toppled since 1980.
Is it something about the candidates in 2025? The complexity of this new party system? The public’s diverted attention?
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