VANCOUVER — Votes will be recounted by hand in two key ridings that could determine British Columbia's next government, and the result won't be known for another week.
Elections BC issued a statement on Sunday — the day after the election — saying recounts will take place in the ridings of Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre, where the NDP and Conservative candidates are separated by fewer than 100 votes.
The New Democrat candidates are leading by very thin margins in the two ridings. The Conservatives would have to win both to secure the narrowest of majorities, and if not, David Eby's incumbent NDP is poised to form a minority government provided it secures the co-operation of two Greens elected on Saturday.
The NDP is leading in 46 ridings, while John Rustad's Conservatives are leading in 45, meaning neither have reached the 47 seats needed to form a majority government after the initial count that wrapped up Sunday.
The initial count does not reflect about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots that will be included in the final count starting next Saturday, Elections BC said.
The recounts will be part of the final count taking place between Oct. 26 and 28, though judicial recounts may occur if the difference between the top two candidates in a riding is less than 1/500th of the total ballots.
An estimated 57.4 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in the election, up from below 54 per cent in 2020. With nearly 2,037,900 ballots cast, the statement from Elections BC said it's the most ever votes tallied in a B.C. provincial election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2024.
The Canadian Press
