Judging politicians on their looks

EDMONTON - A Canadian blogger is trying to fight voter apathy by putting the "sexy" into politics. Zach Bussey of Toronto has created "Canada's Sexiest Election Candidate" contest, which lets people vote for the federal candidate they find most attractive.

The online competition pits candidates from across the country against each other, and the ones who receive the most votes move on to the next round. This system of elimination has reduced the 64 original contenders down to just eight, two of whom are from Alberta.

While Edmonton-Spruce Grove Conservative candidate, Roma Ambrose, was voted off in the first round, Nadine Bailey, the NDP candidate running in the Edmonton-Millwoods-Beaumont riding, has made it to the top eight.

Bailey, who was at first slightly uncomfortable learning she had made the list, is now taking the contest in stride. "It's funny and it's interesting," she said. "If people are willing to get involved in this sort of voting and learn about the candidates, learn more and actually vote on election day...then I think it's a good thing."

Calgary's Scott Milton, running for the Green Party, is also still in the running and grateful for the exposure he's being given through this contest. "Social media's been huge. If more people can see my face, and other candidates' faces, they'll go out and vote."

So far, more than 170,000 votes have been cast in the online poll, which also links to the candidates' websites, where people can learn more about their political platforms. But University of Alberta political scientist, Dr. Jim Lightbody, says he doubts the number of people voting in the online poll will translate to the amount of voters who will actually make it out to the polls on election day.

"The dismal reality is that you cannot vote electronically. You have to find a polling station and go there," said Lightbody. "Nobody's going to go into a polling station humming 'If you think I'm sexy'. It isn't going to happen. People going to a polling station go to exercise their civic responsiblity - they take politics seriously."

The voters we talked to agreed that a politician's good looks won't be enough to sway their vote. "It may engage me to be interested in their platform; but if they're all smoke and no platform, then no I wouldn't vote for them," said Daniel Williams.

With files from Linda Nguyen