Canada’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May has won the first seat ever for the party in the idyllic riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands in British Columbia.
With all of the 245 polls in the constituency having reported their results, May won with 46.3 percent of the popular vote, with incumbent Conservative member of Parliament Gary Lunn trailing behind at 35.6 percent.
“We need hope over fear, compassion over competition,” May told a joyful crowd after the election results came out, according to The Globe and Mail. “We are elected to serve the people of Canada, not one ideology.”
The 56-year-old, Connecticut-born May became the leader of the Green Party in 2006. In the 2008 election, May ran in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova and failed to secure a seat.
May decided to run in Saanich-Gulf Islands this year after deeming the riding as the greenest in the country.
