Still hundreds of votes to count in closest B.C. election races

Article content

Elections BC said late Friday that several hundred ballots remain uncounted in the tightest undecided races after the province’s nail-biting vote last weekend.

The NDP is ahead of the B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes in the two closest races, so the numbers released by Elections BC give room for the lead to switch, increasing the chance of a Conservative majority.

Article content

The election authority said there are an estimated 681 mail-in and absentee ballots to be tallied in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, where the NDP candidate currently leads a B.C. Conservative by just 23 votes.

In Surrey City Centre, where the NDP’s lead is 93 votes, there are an estimated 476 uncounted votes.

Elections BC added that estimated number of ballots may still be subject to change.

“Some districts are still screening certification envelopes containing mail-in ballots and absentee ballots in preparation for final count,” the election authority said. “During final count, certification envelopes that are found to contain no ballot or more than one marked ballot will be set aside and not considered.”

Last Saturday’s B.C. election failed to produce a majority of 47 ridings for either Premier David Eby’s NDP or John Rustad’s Conservatives after the initial count.

More than 66,000 mail-in and absentee ballots across the province’s 93 ridings will be counted over the weekend and on Monday, while full recounts will be conducted in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre because they were so close.

Article content

Article content

The Conservatives are currently elected or leading in 45 ridings, so if they flip both of the recount races and hang onto their leads elsewhere, they will secure the narrowest of majorities.

Eby’s NDP are elected or leading in 46 ridings, so if they hang onto one or both of Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre while maintaining their other leads, they will be in a position to form a minority government if they secure the support of the two elected Greens.

Depending on what happens in this weekend’s final tallying process, BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau is holding potentially pivotal power in the province’s next government despite losing her own bid for re-election.

Furstenau is staying on as leader of the party and has said that “no party deserves all the power” after last weekend’s close results.

She said any conversation on who the Greens support — in case neither the NDP nor the Conservatives reach 47 seats in the final count — will have to start with the Green Party’s platform that includes support for the carbon tax and no future liquefied natural gas project approvals.

Article content

The Greens can also theoretically form a minority government with the Conservatives, but there are wide ideological divides between the two parties.

Furstenau has said she spoke briefly with Eby while a call from Rustad went unanswered because she “didn’t recognize the phone number.”

There are seven other too-close-to-call ridings going into the weekend’s final count, and the margins in all are exceeded by the number of uncounted votes that were listed for each riding by Elections BC late Friday.

Among the other tight races, there are an estimated 634 votes to count in Surrey Guildford, where the Conservatives hold a 103-vote lead. But as the size of the margins increases elsewhere, ranging from 148 to 354 votes, the leads become harder to flip.

Elections BC said the result of the Surrey City Centre recount will be announced Sunday when it is complete, and the Juan de Fuca-Malahat recount result is expected Monday. The tally of mail-in and absentee votes in all ridings will be updated on the Elections BC website as the count goes on.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Article content