B.C. NDP Leader David Eby says he was asked Monday afternoon by Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin to form the next government.
Austin’s request came hours after CBC News projected Eby as the winner of the 2024 provincial election following a day-long recount of razor-thin margins in critical ridings that gave his party a narrow win.
Currently, the NDP has been elected in 46 ridings and is leading in one, with the Conservatives elected in 43 and leading in one. The B.C. Greens have been elected in two ridings.
A majority requires winning 47 of the 93 seats in the B.C. Legislature.
The victory is a result of Monday’s absentee and special ballot counts in the most competitive ridings, which took place 10 days after the Oct. 19 final voting day, where a clear winner did not emerge.
Key to securing the win was NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, projected elected by CBC News with a lead of 125 votes over Conservative Marina Sapozhnikov.
Eby meets with lieutenant-governor
In a statement sent around 5 p.m. PT, Eby thanked voters for giving the NDP a third term in government.
“Today, I met with Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin,” Eby said. “She has asked me to form the next government. We will, and we will work hard every day to earn the trust you have placed in us.”
Eby says all options are on the table as he tries to form a government after Saturday’s nail-biter of an election. New Democrats are one seat short of a majority ahead of the final vote count. As Meera Bains reports, the NDP and Conservatives are both courting the Green Party.
In his statement, Eby acknowledged that voters had sent a message with how tight the election was, and his government would get to work right away on the challenges being faced by people in the province.
Surrey-Guildford nail-biter
A nail-biter in the riding of Surrey-Guildford that is still too close to call currently has NDP incumbent Garry Begg leading Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa by 16 votes.
Should the NDP win that riding, it would give it enough seats for a majority and eliminate the need to court the B.C. Greens to form a minority government under a Confidence and Supply Agreement, as was the case after the 2017 provincial election.
The only other riding CBC News has yet to call is Courtenay-Comox, where Conservative Brennan Day leads NDP incumbent Ronna-Rae Leonard by 92 votes.
Currently, there are five ridings where the margin between the elected candidate and runner-up is less than 200 votes.
Recounts possible
According to Elections B.C., if the difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered, a judicial recount must take place.
Judicial recounts are conducted by a justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and can also be requested by a candidate by the Nov. 4 deadline on the following basis:
- Votes were not correctly accepted, or ballots were not correctly rejected.
- Unopened or resealed certification envelopes or secrecy enclosures contain ballots that should be considered.
- A ballot account does not accurately record the number of votes for a candidate.
- The final count did not correctly calculate the total number of votes for a candidate.
The final vote count will be completed on Monday, according to Elections B.C., with a news release coming to confirm any judicial recounts.