While BC residents have voiced their disdain of having to endure two elections this month, residents of Lumby will soon be heading back to the polls for a third time after the village’s mayor won a seat in the legislature.

On Oct. 24, Mayor of Lumby Kevin Acton beat incumbent NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu in the provincial election, his second election victory this month.

A week earlier, Acton won the Lumby mayoral race, a position he’s held since first being elected mayor in 2009.

Acton said he will continue to be the mayor until he is sworn in as an MLA, which will happen sometime next month.

“Then I’ll have to resign as the mayor, and that’ll trip… (a) by-election,” Acton said.

Lumby councillor Randal Ostafichuk told iNFOnews.ca he would be running for the mayor’s seat.

“In the absence of Kevin (Acton), I want to make sure that we’ve got stability moving forward in the village,” Ostafichuk said. “I will gladly take the reins and continue where he left off.”

Ostafichuk was first voted in as a councillor in 2011, and will now give up his council seat to run for mayor. Come the by-election, Lumby voters will be casting ballots not just for a new mayor but also a new councillor.

Following provincial rules, Acton estimated a by-election would likely take place mid-January.

All four of Lumby’s councillors were acclaimed, but Acton wasn’t concerned no one would step up to the plate.

“I think most people didn’t run, just out of the fact that they’re happy with what’s going on right now. But whenever there’s a seat that actually opens up, it brings a whole bunch of people out,” he said. “I think you’ll see a lot of interest.”

Acton took 75% of the vote to become mayor, beating his only challenger, Bradley Weston, who previously ran for mayor in 2022.

Weston, who has posted numerous conspiracy theories online, wasn’t immediately available to see if he would run again.

The situation in Lumby is unique and was created after the former NDP government called an election even though a municipal election was taking place.

Acton, who’d previously run provincially as an independent after the collapse of BC United, was running as mayor when he also decided to take a shot at getting a seat in Victoria for the BC Conservatives.

At the time, he said he didn’t want to stand down and let the mayor’s seat go to an unchallenged candidate.

Acton said he was still committed to covering the cost of the by-election, which he estimated to cost between $5,000 and $10,000.