A woman of Bangladeshi origin has been elected a member of the provincial parliament in Canada’s Scarborough Southwest.
Doly Begum is the first Bangladeshi-origin candidate to become a member of any legislative body in the North American country, according to M Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh state minister for Foreign Affairs.
With all 63 polls reporting, New Democratic Party candidate Doly had a commanding lead over her nearest rival, Gary Ellis, with 19,751 votes against his 13,592, breaking the hold of a Liberal who has held the seat since 2003, reports The Star.
Doly, who was the chief coordinator of the province-wide Keep Hydro Public campaign, served as co-chair of the Scarborough Health Coalition and vice-chair of the Warden Woods Community Centre.
Scarborough Southwest has a population of 110,280.
