A tight race for political power in British Columbia still had no clear winner early Sunday after the vast majority of votes in the provincial election had been counted, with a weakened incumbent party barely holding off its top challenger late into the night.
With a little more than 96 per cent of votes counted, the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives were left locked in a near dead heat.
The NDP were either elected or leading in 46 ridings, while the Conservatives had won or were leading in 45 — each just a seat or two shy of the 47 needed to win a majority government.
The razor-thin result means the race will come down to the final polls, out-of-district votes and mail in ballots. The latter aren’t expected to be fully counted until Oct. 26.
The delay in announcing the results came after an unusually antagonistic election campaign characterized by the growing popularity of the right-of-centre Conservatives, which had tried to convince a broad base of disillusioned voters to reject the status quo after seven years of NDP rule.
Regardless of which party ultimately forms government, the close race will be considered a disappointing result for the once-dominant NDP and a once-unthinkable accomplishment for the up-and-coming Conservatives.
“This has been a very, very hard fought campaign and we knew that every vote would matter and that has certainly been the case,” NDP Leader David Eby told supporters just before 11:30 p.m. PT. “And it looks like we’re going to have to wait just a little bit longer.”
Eby gave a speech for supporters after what was a disappointing night for his party.
Addressing his own crowd minutes earlier, Conservatives Leader John Rustad said the election was a “historic night.”
“This has been a night where we have seen the political landscape in British Columbia change forever … we have not given up this fight yet. We are going to keep pushing hard.”
A number of ridings are still too close to call with less than a few hundred votes between candidates.
Both Eby and Rustad held onto their ridings: Rustad was re-elected in Nechako Lakes, which he has held since 2005, and Eby won a fourth term in Vancouver–Point Grey.
The winner of the B.C. election remained unclear late Saturday, but B.C. Conservatives Leader John Rustad said it was a great night for his party.
In a major blow to her party, B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau lost her seat after leaving her riding of Cowichan Valley to run for the first time in Victoria–Beacon Hill.
“It has been such an honour to be an MLA,” an emotional Furstenau later told supporters gathered in the capital, her voice hoarse after fighting a cold last weekend. “It’s not the outcome we hoped for in Victoria–Beacon Hill tonight, but I’m so proud of the campaign that we ran.”
The Greens otherwise led in two ridings. With the two top parties each straining to clinch a majority, Furstenau said the party could potentially play “pivotal role” in the next government.
B.C. Green Leader Sonia Furstenau addresses supporters after failing to win the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding in the provincial election.
B.C. was left with similar uncertainty after the provincial election in 2017, when election night ended with another too-close-to-call race between the NDP and then-B.C. Liberals.
Former Liberals leader Christy Clark promised to lead a minority government after the race, but resigned weeks later after losing a confidence vote. The NDP’s John Horgan became premier after signing a confidence and supply agreement with the support of the three Green members of the Legislature.
Together, the two parties had a total of 44 seats — the minimum required at that time for a majority.
Remarkable Conservative rise
The campaign was largely a story about whether or not the Conservatives could complete a stunning political rise to topple Eby’s NDP, or whether the incumbent party could hold onto its commanding power in the Legislature.
At dissolution this fall, the NDP held a powerful majority with 55 seats in the legislature. The B.C. United party served as the Official Opposition with 20 seats, but did not run any candidates in the election after it suspended its campaign to throw its support behind the surging B.C. Conservatives — who held just eight seats before the election.
The Greens had two seats, and two seats were held by Independents. A record 40 Independents ran in the election this year, but none of them won any of their races.
The majority of NDP cabinet ministers retained their seats, including Health Minister Adrian Dix in Vancouver–Renfrew, Jobs Minister Brenda Bailey in Vancouver–South Granville and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in Delta North.
If Rustad’s party takes power, the province will have its first Conservative government in nearly a century. If Eby’s party wins, the province will have its third consecutive NDP government.
Regardless of the final outcome, Rustad’s unlikely rise has been a remarkable story in B.C. politics.
Rustad, 61, became party leader after he was kicked out of the Opposition, then known as the B.C. Liberals, over his views on climate change. In just two years, he steered the fledgling Conservatives to a level of popularity that sank his old party, which had disastrously rebranded as B.C. United.
The Conservatives and NDP ran candidates in each of the province’s 93 ridings, while Furstenau’s Greens had 69 candidates. Six high-profile incumbent MLAs were among the 40 Independent candidates.
Voting results were available quicker than usual because Elections B.C. is using a new electronic voting system to count ballots, though the process wasn’t seamless: results were delayed in Surrey–Cloverdale, one of the province’s closest battleground ridings, because of an issue with a password needed to tabulate votes.
More than a million people voted ahead of a rainy election day, marking a record number for advance voting in the province. Automatic recounts will happen in electoral districts where the top two candidates are separated by 100 votes or less, with recounts scheduled for Oct. 26, 27 and 28.