Sunday October 27, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 10:50 am | Today’s first results update starting 1:17 pm | Latest page update at 9:15 pm | Next update coming on October 28, 2024]
Political news coverage & analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Updates October 28, 2024:
BC Election 2024 results at 6 pm on October 28, 2024:
- BC NDP*: 47 seats | 943,874 votes (44.87%) [* = 47 seats achieves a majority]
- BC Conservatives: 44 seats | 910,160 votes (43.27%)
- BC Greens: 2 seats | 173,358 votes (8.24%)
- Cabinet possibilities in thin 47-seat BC NDP majority
- Premier David Eby issues first post-election statement with “renewed determination”
As posted on October 27, 2024:
The process of counting ballots and determining a final election result for BC Election 2024 has been the focus of some interest in social media the last few days.
There is a defined process followed by Elections BC that has been well-articulated by Elections BC in news releases and in TV media interviews. The process is not intentionally delayed but is in fact responding, in good order, to the rules and guidelines that Elections BC follows by law.
That’s not to say there aren’t potential flaws in the system. That would include:
- the blank ballots that people can fill in at District Electoral Offices ahead of the close of nominations (which in this election was from September 21 to 28); and
- the security of ballot boxes at District Electoral Offices over several weeks of the writ period (potentially exposed to loss, theft or damage by water or fire).
Election night summary (October 19):
The initial vote result on election night Saturday October 19, 2024 showed BC NDP leading or elected in 46 electoral areas, with BC Conservatives leading or elected in 45 ridings, and BC Greens with two elected MLAs.
Two ridings that had margins of less than 100 votes between the top two candidates were triggered for an automatic recount: Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre.
BC NDP Leader David Eby remains the premier until final election results are known (final count comes on October 28).
Eby indicated on election night that his party would approach the BC Greens for support to form some sort of stable government arrangement.
Recount Day One (October 26):
Counting of all other incoming ballots by Elections BC (mail-in, phone-in, special and absentee) began on Saturday October 26.
As a result of this counting activity the BC NDP candidates had increased their lead in those two automatic recounts (Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre) while the BC Conservatives came closer to leading in at least one other seat (including Surrey-Guildford).
Some contentious comments about Indigenous peoples by the BC Conservative candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat have seen the party leader publicly denounce those comments, but if Marina Sapozhnikov does flip the riding to blue Rustad will need every MLA in order to hold a majority.
Today a promo by the BC Conservatives as posted in social media says that “John Rustad still has a chance at becoming the next premier”.
Meanwhile, by flipping to a BC NDP win in at least one more riding the BC NDP could achieve a technical majority (i.e. 47 seats in a BC Legislature of 93 seats). This is another indicator of how every vote counts.
At 1 pm on October 26 Elections BC reported updated election results for six electoral districts:
- Juan de Fuca-Malahat,
- Surrey City Centre,
- Surrey-Guildford,
- Cariboo-Chilcotin,
- Surrey-Cloverdale and
- Coquitlam-Burke Mountain.
At 4 pm on October 26 Elections BC reported updated election results for 30 electoral districts:
- Juan de Fuca-Malahat
- Surrey City Centre
- Surrey-Guildford
- Cariboo-Chilcotin
- Courtenay-Comox
- Coquitlam-Burke Mountain
- Maple Ridge East
- Surrey-Serpentine River
- Surrey-Cloverdale
- Vancouver-Langara
- Skeena
- Kelowna Centre
- Bulkley Valley-Stikine
- Surrey-Panorama
- Vernon-Lumby
- North Island
- Surrey-Fleetwood
- Penticton-Summerland
- West Vancouver-Sea to Sky
- Cowichan Valley
- Langley-Willowbrook
- Surrey-Newton
- Burnaby South-Metrotown
- Surrey North
- Richmond-Steveston
- Vancouver-Yaletown
- Boundary-Similkameen
- Richmond-Queensborough
- North Coast-Haida Gwaii
- Langley-Walnut Grove
But at the end of day-one recounting (October 26), the official party standings (elected or leading) still stood at 46 BC NDP, 45 BC Conservative, 2 BC Green.
Recount Day Two (October 27):
More ballots are being counted today Sunday October 27, with Elections BC scheduled to report out their latest results at 1 pm and 4 pm.
At 1:09 pm on October 27 Elections BC reported updated election results for more electoral districts (list of which districts, to come). Another ballot count update comes at 4 pm today, October 27.
The BC NDP are still leading with 46 seats, BC Conservatives 45, and Greens 2 — in both updates from Elections BC today (1 pm and 4 pm).
As of the latest update on October 27 (at 4 pm), the BC NDP is leading with 46 seats and 933,144 votes (44.80%), followed by the BC Conservatives with 45 seats and 902,751 votes (43.34%), and the BC Greens with 2 seats and 171,384 votes (8.23%).
In the hotly contested Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding, BC NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse is still holding onto the lead with 106 votes ahead of BC Conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov (both at 1 pm and 4 pm). Unless the absentee ballots for Juan de Fuca-Malahat are robust (being counted on Oct 28), it looks like the BC NDP will win there.
The other riding that underwent an automatic recount was Surrey City Centre, were the BC NDP is still holding the lead by a margin of 178 votes (both at 1 pm and 4 pm). The Surrey City Centre recount was complete at 8:30 pm this evening, October 27; BC Elections reported out the numbers as BC NDP candidate Amna Shah winning with 6,618 votes (46.50%) while BC Conservative candidate Zeeshan Wahla had 6,443 votes (45.27%) — final margin of 175 votes.
In Surrey-Guildford where a vote flip is possible, the BC Conservative candidate (Honveer Singh Randhawa) is only 12 votes ahead of the BC NDP candidate (Garry Begg).
The count of assisted telephone and mail-in ballot (as located in Victoria) is complete, said Elections BC at 4 pm today.
Ongoing recounts:
“Recounts in Juan de Fuca-Malahat (JFM), Kelowna Centre (KEC) and Surrey City Centre (SRC) are ongoing,” said Elections BC in their 4 pm update today (October 27).
“We anticipate that the KEC and SRC recounts will conclude tonight, and we will post an update when they are complete,” says Elections BC.
At 5:38 pm the Kelowna Centre count was complete. The BC Conservative candidate Kristina Loewen is elected there (with 42.90% of the vote) by a margin of 68 votes over BC NDP candidate Loyal Wooldridge (42.63%).
“The JFM recount is anticipated to conclude tomorrow,” says Elections BC.
Recount Day Three & Final Results (October 28):
Final count of absentee ballots will be done in all electoral districts. Results will be updated on the Elections BC website hourly starting at 9 am.
===== RELATED:
- Darlene Rotchford delivers slam dunk for BC NDP in Esquimalt-Colwood (October 27, 2024)
- BC NDP candidates still leading in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre (October 26, 2024)
- Over 66,000 mail-in, special & absentee ballots to be counted this weekend (October 25, 2024)
- BC provincial election final count coming up Oct 28 (October 24, 2024)
- Tight race in Juan de Fuca-Malahat exposes long-time political divide (October 20, 2024)
- Elections BC announces full list of provincial candidates: 93 NDP, 93 Conservative, 69 Green (September 29, 2024)
- Early push: Elections BC says people can start voting today (September 21, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: BC PROVINCIAL ELECTION 2024