Full BC Election Results May Not Be Known for a Week as Recounts Get Underway (Updated)

(L-R) B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad; B.C. NDP Leader David Eby. The Canadian Press/Ethan Cairns

The full results of the Oct. 19 B.C. election may not be known for another week as vote count continues.

As of Oct. 20, the B.C. NDP had won or was leading in 46 ridings, the B.C. Conservative Party had won or was leading in 45 ridings, and the B.C. Green Party had secured two seats. To win a majority government, a party needs to win 47 seats.

Recounts have been set for two key ridings that could determine who forms the next government. According to Elections BC, recounts will take place from Oct. 26 to 28 for the ridings of Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre. In both ridings, the NDP and Conservative candidates are separated by fewer than 100 votes.

Unless the Conservatives win in those two ridings, the incumbent NDP could be poised to form a minority government, potentially getting co-operation from the Greens’ two elected MLAs.

In addition to the initial vote count, which resulted in the two recounts, Elections BC said there are about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots that won’t be tallied until the final count, from Oct. 26 to Oct. 28.

After those ballots are included and next weekend’s recounts are done, there could still be additional judicial recounts. Electoral districts in which the vote difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500th of the ballots automatically have a judicial recount by B.C. Supreme Court justice. A request for a riding recount can also be made in some circumstances, such as if there are indications that “votes were not correctly accepted or ballots were not correctly rejected.”

NDP Leader David Eby and Conservative Leader John Rustad both kept their seats in the election, while Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau lost her seat to the NDP.

In the 2017 election, the Greens with their three elected MLAs helped the NDP form a minority government. The NDP won a majority government in the 2020 election.

Voter turnout for this year’s election was 57.4 percent, up from 53.9 percent in the 2020 election, but lower than the 61.2 percent turnout in the 2017 election. Still, with the increase in the province’s population, a record number of people cast ballots in the 2024 election.

“As of the close of initial count, 2,037,897 ballots have been cast, the most ever in a provincial election in B.C. The previous record was 1,986,374 votes cast in the 2017 provincial election,” Elections BC said.

Elections BC used electronic tabulators for the first time in this election to help count votes, and says this helped speed up the process.

Leaders’ Comments

Eby said in his speech in Vancouver that although the outcome was still unclear, there had been support for what his party stands for.

“We don’t know what the final count is going to be in the province, but what we do know is that there was a clear majority for the progressive values. And I take a lot of comfort from that,” he said.

He also acknowledged that Rustad “spoke to the frustrations of a lot of British Columbians” on issues such as affordability and public safety and vowed to “do better.”

“There is also another message in this narrowest of margins, that we’ve got to do better, and that was our commitment to British Columbians. We’ve got to do better, and we will do better,” he said.

Rustad told his supporters in Vancouver that his party had “not given up this fight” to form government.

“I am optimistic that people in this province are hungry for that change,” he said. “People are counting on the hope, on the opportunity, on the vision of what can be (a) prosperous British Columbia, not one, quite frankly, that is in a welfare state that it is today.”

Rustad also commented on the possibility of the NDP forming a minority government.

“If we’re in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down at the very first opportunity and get back to the polls,” he said.

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby greets supporters as he and his wife Cailey Lynch leave after speaking on election night in Vancouver on Oct. 19, 2024. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad gives a thumbs up alongside his wife Kim after addressing supporters on election night in Vancouver on Oct. 19, 2024. The Canadian Press/Ethan Cairns

B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau speaks to supporters following her loss in the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding while at election headquarters in Victoria, B.C., on Oct. 19, 2024. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito

Furstenau said the results mean that her party is still going to play a “pivotal role” in the B.C. legislature.

“It’s a strange time in politics when, during an atmospheric river, people came out and voted for a party that’s denying the reality of climate change. But hey, this is where we’re at,” she said.

She added that she was happy for the two Green candidates who got elected.

“This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can.”

Unique Election

The B.C. Conservatives’ rise ahead of the provincial election was a major story of this election cycle.

For decades the party had no representation in the provincial legislature, but received a boost in 2021 when filmmaker and media commentator Aaron Gunn was blocked by the B.C. Liberals from running for the leadership of the party, and instead decided to revive the B.C. Conservatives.

Gunn later joined the federal Conservatives as a candidate, and the B.C. Conservatives voted in Rustad as their leader in March 2023.

Rustad, a former provincial cabinet minister in the Liberal government of Christy Clark, was kicked out of the then-B.C. Liberal Party (since renamed BC United) in 2022 by Leader Kevin Falcon for sharing a social media post that challenged the idea that carbon dioxide is the “control knob of global temperature” when it comes to climate change. He sat as an Independent prior to joining the Conservatives and becoming their only MLA in the legislature.

His party gained increasing momentum in the polls this year, and more MLAs left BC United to join the Conservatives. As polls showed the Conservatives overtaking BC United in popularity and rivalling the governing NDP, Falcon ended his party’s campaign in favour of the Conservatives in August.

The NDP came to power in 2017 after defeating the previous governing B.C. Liberals, and was re-elected in 2020. Eby, a former provincial attorney general, became NDP leader and premier in 2022 after John Horgan retired from the post.

Before the Oct. 19 election was officially called and the legislature dissolved, the governing NDP held 55 seats in the legislature, followed by the Official Opposition BC United with 20 seats, the BC Conservatives with 8 seats, and the Greens with 2 seats. Two ridings were held by Independent MLAs.

The number of seats in the provincial legislature was expanded from 87 to 93 for this year’s election.

Election Day and Advance Polls

Many braved heavy rain to fill in their ballots on Oct. 19 as Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a rainfall warning for several parts of metro Vancouver. Heavy rain led to flooded streets, homes, and businesses and many roads were closed.

A record 28 percent of registered voters cast their ballots early in advanced polls this year.

People enter a polling station in Vancouver to vote in the provincial election on Oct. 19, 2024. The Canadian Press/Ethan Cairns

Elections B.C. said 1,001,331 people cast votes between Oct. 10 and 16, including 222,907 voting on the final day of advance polls.

The previous record was set during the pandemic in the 2020 election where 19 percent of registered voters (671,231) participated in advance polls.

On election day, NDP Leader Eby encouraged residents to vote, calling it “the most important provincial election in a generation.”

Rustad posted a photo on X of him and his wife Kim casting their ballots, urging people to vote and saying it was the first time he had voted Conservative.

Green Party Leader Furstenau said the weather was evidence the province needed to go in a new direction.

Campaign Promises

The 28-day campaign has seen the NDP promising extensions to medical care support, speed up construction by using modular housing, and provide financial support for first-time homebuyers. Eby also said the province’s trial of safe consumption sites had not been a success.

During the campaign, the Conservatives criticized the NDP for their policy on drug use and addictions, saying if elected the Conservatives would get rid of consumption sites. Rustad also said he would introduce a tax credit for housing costs, and adjust the funding model for health care to improve access.

Furstenau said the Greens would work towards opening 93 community health-care centres, expanding the number of drug consumption sites, and improving education on addiction.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.