The B.C. NDP has held onto its majority following the completion of a judicial recount in the tight race in Surrey-Guildford.
Elections B.C. said in a statement Friday afternoon that after overseeing the count, Justice Kevin D. Loo of the B.C. Supreme Court has declared Garry Begg elected, receiving 8,947 votes compared to the Conservative candidate’s 8,925 — a difference of 22 votes.
It should be enough to give Premier David Eby’s New Democrats a one-seat majority almost three weeks after the initial vote.
More than 19,000 ballots were counted as part of that process.
B.C.’s provincial party leaders react to the final vote count. As Chad Pawson reports, leaders need to find a way to work together after a bitter, divisive and negative campaign.
Recounts were also underway in Kelowna Centre, where the Conservatives had led by 38 votes, and in Prince George Mackenzie, where a box containing 861 ballots was left uncounted.
The Prince George recount won’t change the outcome because the B.C. Conservative candidate there won by more than 5,000 votes.
If the recount in Kelowna Centre affirms the Conservatives, the NDP will still have the 47 seats required for a majority and the Conservatives 44, while the Greens have two seats in the 93-seat legislature.
Results in the remaining two recounts are expected today, but Elections B.C. spokesman Andrew Watson says certification won’t happen until next week following an appeal period.
The Election Act says the deadline to appeal results after judicial recounts must be filed with the court within two days after they are declared, but Watson says that due to Remembrance Day on Monday, that period ends at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
When an appeal is filed, it must be heard no later than 10 days after the registrar receives the notice of appeal.