I’m happy to see people who look like me in Canberra’s elections – but that doesn’t mean I’ll vote for them

‘I celebrate the increase in diverse candidates running for election – but I also celebrate the opportunity I have as a voter to elect people who represent my needs and interests, regardless of their identity’ writes Zoya Patel. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

I live in Canberra, and our Territory elections are on this week. Driving around and seeing the candidate corflutes all over town, I’ve been pleased to see the diversity of people running for a seat in the legislative assembly.

I particularly noticed what seemed like a big increase in the number of south Asian Canberrans running as candidates. Wanting to see if my hunch was correct, I looked up the records of every territory election that I’ve voted in, and it turns out this year we have the highest number of south Asian candidates on the ballot since 2008, my first voting election.