BC NDP Widens Margin Over Conservatives as Voting Recount Continues

(Left) B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad. (Right) B.C. NDP Leader David Eby. The Canadian Press/Ethan Cairns

The NDP has increased its lead in two B.C. ridings where official recounts are underway, although the overall race remains close as Elections BC tallies tens of thousands of mail-in and absentee ballots.

In the Oct. 19 general election,  the BC NDP won or led in 46 ridings, the BC Conservatives won or led in 45 ridings, and the Green Party picked up two seats.

As of Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. local time, Elections BC said that in the riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat, NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse was leading over Conservative Marina Sapozhnikov by 106 votes, up 23 votes from the initial count.

In Surrey-City Centre, NDP candidate Amna Shah’s lead over the Conservatives’  Zeeshan Wahla had widened to 178 votes from 93.

Meanwhile, the counting of absentee ballots had reduced the lead of the Conservatives’ Honveer Singh Randhawa over NDP incumbent Garry Begg to 12 votes, from a margin of 103 in the initial count.

Other close races include Courtenay-Comox, with the Conservatives leading by 116 votes, down from the 234-vote lead in the initial count. The Conservatives are also ahead in Kelowna Centre by 72 votes. In the initial vote, the party led by 148 votes. 

In Maple Ridge East riding, the Conservatives have a 163 vote lead over the NDP, down from the 327 lead the party had in the initial count.

Overall, the NDP remains in the lead with 46 seats and 44.64 percent of the votes. The Conservatives are second with 45 seats and 43.53 percent of the votes, while the Greens are still at two seats and 8.19 percent of the votes.

Forty-seven seats are needed to form a majority government.

Elections B.C. has also started counting the more than 43,000 mail-in ballots, saying the count will be completed late Sunday. The counting of the more than 22,000 absentee and special ballots will be completed by Monday.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.