The winner of the 2024 B.C. election will be decided on Monday after updated results from mail-in ballots over the weekend failed to produce a clear winner.
The counting of around 44,000 mail-in ballots finished over the weekend, with the numbers from Elections B.C. showing the NDP gaining some ground.
The party now leads over the B.C. Conservatives by 106 votes in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding, up from 20, and 178 votes in Surrey City Centre, up from the previous 93.
The NDP has also tightened the race in Surrey-Guildford, now just 12 votes behind the Conservatives, instead of 103.
The final tally will then be completed on Monday with the counting of more than 22,000 absentee ballots. Results will be updated on Election B.C.’s website hourly that day.
Prior to Saturday, the B.C. NDP were leading or elected in 46 seats, the B.C. Conservatives in 45 seats and the B.C. Greens were elected in two seats. In the B.C. Legislature, 47 seats are required to form a majority government.
No ridings were flipped due to the updated results, but CBC News upgraded four ridings it had the NDP leading in to projected wins, as well as as one riding the Conservatives were leading in to a projected win.
With the winner of the B.C. election yet to be determined, political scientist Hamish Telford sheds light on what could come next, and says it’s possible the NDP is looking for a partnership with the Greens like the one it had after the 2017 vote.
There were more updated results released on Sunday afternoon, but the vote counts in the 10 closest districts have not changed.
The full results of the 2024 election will not be made official until two recounts are conducted later on Sunday and Monday.
Those will be in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre ridings, where the NDP made gains on Saturday, but where the original margin of victory was under 100 votes.
Week-long cliffhanger
British Columbians have been waiting all week to learn who their next government will be.
That’s because Elections B.C. had to count around 66,000 absentee and mail-in ballots that were sent in after the close of advance voting, and was mandated by law to wait until Saturday to begin doing so.
While most ridings’ results this weekend will be counted by electronic tabulators, the recounts in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre ridings will be done manually.
Any district where the margin of victory is 100 votes or less is subject to an automatic recount. Parties can also request a recount in close ridings.
In response to a question from CBC News about whether Surrey-Guildford — where the margin of the Conservatives’ lead has shrunk to under 100 votes — would also see a recount, Elections B.C. said they will know the answer on Monday.
“Once final count is complete on [Oct.] 28 we will be able to confirm if a district will go to an automatic judicial recount,” spokesperson Andrew Watson said in an email.
“If the difference between the top two candidates following the conclusion of final count is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered, there will be an automatic judicial recount in that district.”