Mitch Landrieu Elected As New Orleans Mayor

February 7th, 2010 - 8:57 pm ICT by GD  

By Gina Gomez
mitchNew Orleans, Feb 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu created history on Saturday when he was elected as the mayor of New Orleans, which marked the first time that a white candidate was elected since the year 1978. The lieutenant governor of Louisiana won by a landslide victory as 66 per cent of the votes went in his favor and with it managed to register victory against ten other competitors running for the same post. First-time candidate Troy Henry grabbed the second position but managed to win only 14 per cent of the total votes.

Mitch Landrieu’s victory is extremely significant for New Orleans as this was the first time in about 30 years that the city which comprises mostly of black voters have elected a white man. Interestingly, the last time the mayor’s office was held by a white candidate was when his father Moon Landrieu was the mayor of New Orleans from 1970-1978.

Meanwhile, analysis of the voting results highlight that extensive crossover voting by two-thirds of the resident African-Americans of the city played a pivotal role in ensuring the Democratic leader’s victory. At the same time, since 49 year old Lieutenant Governor gained the majority of the votes, the possibility of a runoff election has been ruled out.

After being declared the winner, Mitch Landrieu stated in his victory speech that the city of New Orleans was moving forward together and nobody was being left behind. After the Democratic leader takes charge of the mayor’s office on May 6, one of the major problems that Mitch Landrieu would have to tackle is the rampant crime prevailing in the city and its slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

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