With advance polls from Plamondon and LacAlta Lodge still not reporting, Aurel Langevin has 793 votes to runner up Tom Lett's 706. Ray Ewaskiw came in with 129.
Lac La Biche Couny's former deputy mayor has moved up a chair.
Unofficial results from Monday night's mayoral by-election put Langevin ahead of Lett by more than 85 votes in an election that saw more than 1.600 people cast their ballots.
Langevin, who was the deputy mayor of the current council when former mayor Peter Kirylchuk suddenly resigned his seat, campaigned on the hard work that the current council has done.
Lett wanted to make council more accountable to the public, while Ewaskiw based his platform largely on balanced finances.
One question Langevin will have to evaluate as he prepares for the municipal promotion is — if his victory means the public wants continuity, then why did almost half of the voters want a change by voting for Lett?
All vote numbers are unofficial until confirmed later in the week.
