Candidates and councils in limbo waiting for election results

Votes have been cast in Monday's municipal election but it will be two weeks before we'll know who won, leaving candidates and councils across the province in a kind of limbo.

For Jeff Bradbury, the wait is frustrating.

"It's going to be weighing on the back of my mind... I'm anxious to get back to the table and get back to work with my council duties," he said.

Bradbury ranfor re-election as a councillor in Woodstock.

He understands why the wait is necessary but said it will put a hold on some council business.

"We can't put anything more on the budget or anything like that. We can't add any money or borrow anything, but we can still have discussions in council."

Bradbury said the day-to-day operations of the town are still being run by the office and administration.

People in the Madawaska and Edmundston regions have until May 25 to cast their votes because campaigning was delayed when the areas were in lockdown.

The ballots already cast province-wide will be kept in a secure place until then,when allwill be counted.

Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth said Elections NB cannot release the results until everyone has had the opportunity to vote.

David Hickey is the incumbentin Saint John's Ward 3.

"This is probably one of the first times, in at least anyone's recollection, as to a scenario like this happening. But I think that's the nature of what the last few years brought us all."

He said the situation presents a challenge for the current council.

"Now we're now bouncing in this limbo," he said.

"Now for the next two weeks, we have to have a meeting in between that, right. So you've got a meeting of a council who's already been voted on but we don't know who will be staying and who will be going and who will be in new positions."

Hickey said the council passed a motion allowing it the ability to continue operations over the course of the two weeks.

"But it certainly presented us in a precarious spot as far as a council," he said. "And especially as one with a really tight agenda on a lot of stuff. We've had a lot of big things coming in the last couple of months and making sure that work doesn't stop is really important."

Graham Milner, a veteran councillor in Sussex who also ran for re-election, said the town madesome changes to how it does business while candidates await results.

"Any major decisions can't be made right now unless it's an emergency," he said.

"A lot of things that normally could have been voted on as a council will have to go on hold until after the new council comes in. And so we're sort of basically in limbo."

Milner said the CEO and the treasurer will still have the authority to conduct operations in the town as necessary.

Elections NB will stream the province-wide results on its website on May 25.