Elections BC has released the final count for the 2020 Provincial Election, solidifying returning Premier John Horgan’s victory.
At the close of General Voting Day, with in-person ballots counted, the NDP were leading or elected in 55 of 87 ridings, while the Liberals held 29 and the Greens held 3.
Following the tabulation of all remaining ballots, the NDP have won 57 seats, the Liberals 28, and the Greens 2.
Mail-in ballots tipped the scales slightly, winning Abbotsford-Mission for the NDP by a margin of 744 votes for Pam Alexis, and knocking out ousted Liberal candidate Laurie Throness from Chilliwack-Kent, who lost by 1,304 votes to the NDP’s Kelli Paddon.
The Green Party may be ousted from the mainland, as their election night victory in West Vancouver Sea-to-Sky was cast into doubt by a reversal that saw Green candidate Jeremy Valeriote losing by 41 votes to Liberal Jordan Sturdy.
The close call triggered an automatic recount under B.C’s Election Act, which specifies a threshold difference between the top two candidates of more than 1/500 of the total ballots cast to solidify a victory.
With 24,768 votes cast in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, the threshold for a judicial recount was 49 votes. The BC Supreme Court will determine the date for the recount.
