Vancouver's next mayor could be determined by backroom deals

Vision Vancouver mayoral nomination contender Allan De Genova has told The Tyee that he will encourage his supporters to cast their second-choice ballots for a soon-to-be-named rival in the hotly contested nomination.

De Genova said he will not identify his endorsee until Sunday, but sources inside all three campaigns hinted that City Coun. Raymond Louie was most likely to get De Genova's nod.

"I think there's always been a lot of synergies between our camp and Raymond's camp. A lot of them have been brought about by some of the actions that the Gregor camp has taken," said Ian Bailey, who manages the De Genova campaign.

"I haven't been told. But given all the comments out there in the past several months, I'd be surprised if it wasn't Raymond," said Neil Monckton, who manages the Louie campaign.

"What I'm anticipating they will do is hand out sample ballots as voters arrive. They'll be marked with names one and two," agreed Brad Zubyk of Gregor Robertson's campaign.