Halifax mayor undecided about reoffering

With less than 24 hours to decide, Mayor Peter Kelly says he hasn't yet decided if he'll reoffer for mayor or run for a council seat in Bedford.

The official deadline by which all candidates must declare if they will be candidates in municipal elections next month is Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Kelly said in February he would not reoffer, following a scandal showing he had failed in his duty as executor of a friend's estate.

However, in July, Kelly said he might run for a council seat in Bedford, where he started in municipal politics.

Kelly said Monday he's not sure what he'll do.

"Over the last few weeksI have received hundreds of calls, emails, face to face,to encourage me to look at running for mayor or for council," he said.

"The deadline is tomorrow, I can honestly say I have not made a final decision one way or the other."

Meanwhile, Vince Hall and Matthew Woronatwo candidates in the race to become mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipalityhave both dropped out of the election.

Hall, a former councillor with the CapeBreton Regional Municipality, sent out a news releaseon Monday andsaid he's throwing his support behind former Liberal MP Mike Savage.

"Given that the campaign is essentially just commencing, I have recently met with Mr. Savage and we had a discussion around his ideas and vision for the city including how much of an effort he has put into reaching out to people throughout HRM," Hall said in a release.

"After mulling things over, I have decided to support his candidacy as his political experience and skills will be an asset in the mayor's position."

Several hours later, Worona sent out a release and said he had come to a "crossroads" in his campaign.

"Attending university, working a full time job and running a campaign takes a significant chunk of time," he said.

"I have concluded that I am unable to maintain that commitment, and have therefore decided to withdraw from the 2012 mayoral election."

Worona said he would be supporting Waye Mason, who is running as a councillor for District 7.

There are now three mayoralty candidates for the Halifax Regional Municipality: Savage, former police officer Tom Martin andentrepreneur Fred Connors.