VICTORIA – The result of British Columbia’s election will come down to the wire on Monday when absentee ballots are counted after a tally of mail-in votes failed to resolve a handful of undecided races.
There was no shift in the party standings after Elections BC said count of mail-in and assisted telephone ballots was completed Sunday.
Prospects for an NDP government increased on Saturday after the party widened leads in some close races and cut back the B.C. Conservatives’ margins in others, thanks to mail-in ballots.
The closest undecided riding in the province was Surrey-Guildford, where the NDP cut the B.C. Conservatives lead to 12 votes.
With an estimated 226 absentee and special votes still to be counted there, Surrey-Guildford could provide David Eby’s New Democrats with the narrowest of majorities if the lead there flips Monday.
Eby issued a statement on social media Sunday saying Elections BC was ensuring all votes in the October election are counted.
The provincial agency is an independent, non-partisan office of the legislature that administers B.C. elections and byelections.
“We knew this was going to be a close election, but we’ve been here before,” Eby said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“BCers support our fair election process and the people at Elections BC (are) making sure every vote gets counted. Thanks to candidates, volunteers and election workers who make democracy work.”
Elections BC said the tally of more than 22,000 absentee and special votes will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, with the results then updated on its website hourly “as counting progresses.”
The NDP is elected or leading in 46 seats and John Rustad’s Conservatives in 45, both short of a 47-seat majority, while the Greens could hold the balance of power with two seats.
Full hand recounts were also underway Sunday in two ridings where the New Democrats held slim leads after the initial count in the still-undecided Oct. 19 vote.
Elections BC said the recount result in Surrey City Centre was expected Sunday night, while the final total in Juan de Fuca-Malahat is slated to land on Monday.
The recounts were triggered because margins of victory after the initial tally were below 100 votes. Counting of mail-in ballots on Saturday widened the NDP lead in Juan de Fuca-Malahat to 106 votes, while the party now leads by 178 in Surrey City Centre.
Meanwhile, Chief Clarence Louie, Tribal Chair of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, issued a statement on Sunday calling for the B.C. Conservative candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat to be removed from the party over comments about Indigenous people.
On Friday, the Vancouver Sun published a recording in which a person it identifies as Marina Sapozhnikov calls First Nations people “savages.” The newspaper says the comments came during an election-night conversation with a journalism student.
Louie called the reported comments “abhorrent and racist.”
“These ignorant and hateful comments, which constitute a form of hate speech, have no place in our society. We call on B.C. Conservative Leader, John Rustad, to immediately take a clear and strong stand against hate and racism by removing her from his political party,” Louie said.
Rustad issued a statement saying he was “appalled and deeply saddened” by the comments and the party is “taking this matter seriously.”
While the makeup of the 93-riding legislature could finally become clear on Monday, judicial recounts could still take place after that if the margin in a riding is less than 1/500th of all votes cast.
In another close race that will come down to absentee ballots, the Conservatives held a 72-vote lead in Kelowna Centre, where there are an estimated 228 votes left to count.
A partial recount of votes that went through one particular tabulator in Kelowna Centre was also being conducted Sunday, with the recount result expected that night.
— With files from Ashley Joannou in Vancouver
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.
