On Saturday, June 24th, many voters in the Langford-Juan de Fuca electoral district went to the polls to decide who would fill the seat for former premier John Horgan.
Ravi Parmer, the BC NDP’s candidate came out on top in the by-election.
Parmer, who cut his teeth in politics as the Sooke School District Board Chair, had Horgan’s endorsement which aided him in winning his seat.
“It’s an honor to continue his incredible work as the new MLA,” Parmer said when he found out he won the by-election.
“With deep respect for our community’s needs, I’m committed to carrying the torch & delivering for people.”
https://twitter.com/rparmarBC/status/1672986846794743808?s=20
In the end, Parmer wound up winning by over 4,500 votes, taking a 53% majority vote in the electoral district.
In total, Parmer had 7,224 votes, the BC Conservative Party’s Mike Harris was the runner up with 2,689 votes, the BC Green Party’s Camille Currie had 2,386 votes, the newly renamed BC United Party’s Elena Lawson had only 1,169 ballots cast and the BC Communist Party scraped the bottom of the barrel with just 74 votes for their candidate, Tyson Riel Strandlund.
Out of 51,588 registered voters in the region, only 13,542 made it to a polling station to cast their vote. This represents only 26% of the district’s voters.
One other electoral district went to the polls this past Saturday — the Vancouver-Mount Pleasant region also needed to vote in a new MLA and their BC NDP candidate, Joan Phillip won by a landslide with 67% of the vote.
Both incoming and outgoing MLAs were members of the BC NDP, so the number of seats each party has in the Legislature remains the same.
The BC NDPs will have 57 seats once Parmer and Phillip are sworn in, the BC United remain the official opposition with 27 seats, the BC Green Party have two seats and there is one independent seat held.
