Vancouver's Chinese votes are up for grabs in a mayoral race after the defeat of the only ethnic Chinese who had been seeking the opposition candidacy, and former Chinese favourite Mayor Sam Sullivan having already been dumped by his own party.
Opposition party Vision Vancouver, which is trying to lure Mr Sullivan's Chinese supporters ahead of the November polls, held a members-only ballot on Sunday that resulted in organic-juice entrepreneur Gregor Robertson being anointed the party's mayoral candidate.
He defeated two-term councillor Raymond Louie, who had described his candidacy as 'symbolic' for many of the city's Chinese voters.
About 30 per cent of Vancouver city's 570,000 residents are ethnic Chinese. In the Greater Vancouver area of 2 million residents, 18 per cent are Chinese.
After six years on city council, Mr Louie, the son of a Chinese immigrant, had been the strongest Chinese mayoral candidate to have emerged in Vancouver city politics.
In 2005, Mr Sullivan became an unlikely favourite among ethnic- Chinese voters. He won the mayor's seat amid an unusually high turnout of Chinese residents in Vancouver, garnering more than 70 per cent of their vote, giving him a narrow victory over his opponent. Mr Sullivan, who is a quadriplegic, had taught himself Cantonese while dressing in the morning, and can now also speak conversational Putonghua.