The race for mayor in Surrey just got smaller by one, as a candidate has withdrawn his name from candidacy.
Joginder Randhawa officially withdrew as a candidate for mayor on last week, reducing the field of those seeking the top job to seven.
Also last week, White Rock councillor candidate Roger Emanuels withdrew from his race.
Early Oct. 18, Randhawa said he was thinking of withdrawing from the Surrey race for family reasons.
He said he was driven to put his name into the race to speak out for people who were going to be hit by a two-cents-per-liter gas tax approved by the Translink board to pay for expanded rapid transit.
"People have a load of taxes," Randhawa said. "That was the reason (I decided to run)."
However, family won the day at the Randhawa household.
Now there are six candidates trying to take the mayor's chair from Dianne Watts. They include Viramjit Bajwa, Shan Rana, Ross Buchanan, Touraj Ghanbar-zadeh, Clifford Inimgba and Deanna Welters.
According to the City of White Rock's website, Emanuels withdrew his papers as of 1:42 p.m. Oct. 21 – just over two hours before the deadline to do so passed.
Emanuels was one of 23 to vie for a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.
His withdrawal this year reduces the list of council candidates running in White Rock Nov. 19 to 13; there are still four in the running for the mayor's chair.
All candidates had until 4 p.m. today (Friday) to change their minds about running for office.
- Kevin Diakiw and Tracy Holmes