Sunday October 20, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 4:23 pm on October 21, 2024]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
There were many competitive races in the 93 electoral areas across BC in the 43rd general election that was held on October 19, 2024.
In particular, a very narrow vote margin in two ridings (each with less than 100 votes) will now undergo official recounts:
- Juan de Fuca-Malahat – recount between Dana Lajeunesse (BC NDP – 8,943 votes) and Marina Sapozhnikov (BC Conservative – 8,920 votes) [Political analysis about Juan de Fuca-Malahat results]
- Surrey City Centre – recount between Amna Shaw (BC NDP – 6,439 votes) and Zeeshan Wahla (BC Conservative – 6,343 votes)
The final vote count for BC Election 2024 will be conducted by Elections BC during October 26 to 28 across all 93 ridings.
Voter turnout:
At the conclusion of the initial count on October 20, voter turnout is estimated as 57.41%. That’s higher than the 2020 voter turnout during the COVID pandemic (53.86%). The highest voter turnout in a BC election was in 2017, the election that ultimately brought the BC NDP into power.
Results as of October 21, 2024:
Here are the BC Election 2024 initial count results (as posted by Elections BC):
- In total, 2,038,787 registered voters cast their ballot during BC Election 2024. That’s 57.43% of the 3,550,017 voters who had registered by October 7, 2024.
- By party, the vote tally was 909,277 for the BC NDP (44.60% of the vote resulting in 46 seats), 888,243 for the BC Conservatives (43.57% of the vote resulting in 45 seats), and 166,905 for the BC Greens (8.19% of the vote resulting in 2 seats).
- See Elections BC News Release on Initial Count, Final Counts, Recounts and Voter Turnout (as at October 20, 2024).
Statement from Premier David Eby:
“While the count will be finalized in the days ahead, our BC NDP team won the most votes and we hold the most seats. However, we did not secure a majority government,” said Premier David Eby in a statement at 2:39 pm on this day after the October 19, 2023 43rd general election.
That sounds a lot like the response that former BC Liberal Premier Christy Clark gave before she saw the collapse of her government through a Supply and Confidence Agreement between the BC NDP and the BC Greens.
“I am determined to listen and get down to work for you,” said Eby in his statement today (and essentially the same thing in his speech late last night over three hours after the polls closed.
===== RELATED:
- Tight race in Juan de Fuca-Malahat exposes long-time political divide (October 20, 2024)
- Ravi Parmar achieves clear BC NDP win in Langford-Highlands (October 20, 2024)
- BC Greens celebrate Election 2024 in Victoria (October 19, 2024)
- Don’t be that voter who lets rain spoil the result (October 19, 2024)
- Who’s gonna win BC Election 2024? (October 16, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: POLITICS | VANCOUVER ISLAND | BC ELECTION 2024 | EDITORIALS
- ELECTIONS BC: BC Election 2024 Initial Count Results (by Party & by Candidate)