Kandavel Leads Tight Race In Scarborough Southwest By Election
November 17, 2023 (Toronto, ON) – A new Liaison Strategies poll for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) shows Parthi Kandavel narrowly leading Suman Roy in the race to replace councillor Gary Crawford.
Conducted from November 14-15, 2023, using interactive voice response technology, the poll surveyed 501 eligible Scarborough Southwest voters. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 4.37%, 19 times out of 20. Liaison is a member of the Canadian Insights Research Council (CRIC).
"While Kandavel leads among the candidates, the largest chunk of voters, 43%, are undecided," said David Valentin, principal at Liaison Strategies."Such a high number of undecided voters at this stage of the election could be seen as disinterest. Turnout was not expected to be high for this election and many of those undecided voters may not make it to the polls."
"Among decided voters, Kandavel is leading with 26% followed by Roy at 23% and Rupasinghe at 19%. Given the poll's margin of error Kandavel and Roy are in a statistical tie with Rupasinghe a close third."
"It is going to come down to turnout and which candidate can drive their supporters to the polls. A low turnout by election favours candidates with name recognition and all three leading contenders have previously run for councillor in Scarborough Southwest."
"Also running are trustee Malika Ghous (7%) and former trustee candidate Anna Sidiropoulos (9%). Former NDP candidate Hussain is at 5%."There's just under two weeks to go until Election Day which means there is plenty of time for movement, whoever joins Mayor Chow at council will have some tough votes to cast as Toronto's budget process continues," concluded Valentin.
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