Alan Lowe was the city's first mayor of Chinese heritage to be elected.
In 1999 Alan Lowe managed to win a hard-fought three-way race versus Bob Friedland of the Victoria Civic Electors on the left and veteran right wing councilor Geoff Young.
The accepted opinion in the next election was that Lowe was unassailable and therefore no serious candidates chose to challenge him.
He handily won the 2002 election (61.65% of the popular vote) against a number of opponents, including his closest contender, Ben Isitt, then a 24-year-old master's student at the University of Victoria.
Lowe's completion of the new police headquarters building and the Save On Foods Memorial Centre were very positive for his public relations.