Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts may get an easy ride in the upcoming civic elections, now that her opponents in the Surrey Civic Coalition have confirmed they will not run a candidate for mayor.

Over the weekend the coalition picked the last of its eight candidates for council. Coalition president Gord Savard said they plan to challenge Watts on council rather than at the ballot box.

"We intend to run a very competitive team that will challenge Mayor Watts to make good on her commitments," said Savard.

"We do not believe that the current council or the Board of Education have, in any way, ever held the Mayor accountable," he said.

The official nomination period for candidates in the civic election starts next week and Watts says she is not taking anything for granted. But she thinks her record as mayor will stand up well when voters head to the polls on November 20.

"The residents have been happy with...us getting the job done, that we are not engaged in petty politics and that...we are moving the city forward with the vision that we said we were going to undertake," said Watts.

Too much risk for challengers

SFU Political Science Professor Patrick Smith says normally senior city councillors would be the ones to challenge the mayor, but it seems no one wants to risk their position at city hall to try to unseat the popular mayor.

"I think it's probably just some practical political considerations. Why would we take on someone at this point when they are not politically vulnerable at all," said Smith.

Smith says Watt is very popular now, but that wasn't always the case.

"Council at one point didn't want to appoint her to GVRD committees. She was considered a kind of outsider. But she has been very proactive in trying to present a different image of Surrey."

"She has been able to challenge some of the rather traditional, sometimes negative views of Surrey — quite a turnaround in terms of her being able to really become the dominant figure in Surrey politics."

After former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell stepped down last year, Watts said she considered running for the leadership of the party, but decided against it. Watts cited three main reasons for not making the move, including wanting to finish her work as Surrey's mayor.