Who's running in Surrey City Centre?
- Ryan Abbott, Communist Party of BC
- Colin Boyd, BC Green Party
- Saeed Naguib, independent
- Amna Shah, BC NDP
- Zeeshan Wahla, Conservative Party of BC
A brief history of Surrey City Centre:
The renamed and reshaped riding, formerly Surrey-Whalley, has long been held by the NDP's Bruce Ralston, who was first elected in 2005 and won subsequent elections in 2009, 2013, 2017 and, most recently, in 2020.
With Ralston retired from politics and not running this time around, Amna Shah will work to keep the seat in Victoria for the NDP.
Shah, a two-decade Surrey resident who has worked on projects involving affordable housing and Surrey Food Bank, will face competition for votes from Conservative Party of BC challenger Zeeshan Wahla, a professional engineer and father of four who runs an engineering consulting business. Arriving in B.C. as an immigrant in 2007, Wahla hails from a family "steeped in a tradition of hard work and perseverance," according to a biography.
With the Whalley-area riding long held by the BC NDP, where in 2020 Ralston nearly doubled the number of votes for his nearest challenger (BC Liberal candidate Shaukat Khan), the Conservatives have work to do to win Surrey City Centre.
The BC Greens have a presence in the race with candidate Colin Boyd. Two other challengers, independent Saeed Naguib and Ryan Abbott of the Communist Party of BC, will also be on the ballot.
Where is Surrey City Centre?
From the Fraser River south, the 17-square-kilometre riding (population 57,566) includes Surrey's downtown core, parts of the Bridgeview neighbourhood, Green Timbers Urban Forest Park and the area surrounding Surrey Memorial Hospital, south to 88 Avenue.
