The vote tallying in British Columbia’s 2020 provincial election entered its final day Sunday, with the BC NDP on track to win 57 seats in their majority government.
Should the lead hold, it would be the seventh-best electoral finish of any party in B.C. history based on popular vote, and the second-best based on seat count.
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BC NDP pick up 4, Liberals hold 2 key races as final provincial election count continues
Due to more than 660,000 outstanding mail-in and absentee ballots, there were 12 ridings Global News deemed too close to call on election night, Oct. 23.
By Sunday morning, elections staff had counted 624,676 of those votes. The NDP had flipped five seats, the BC Liberals had held onto three and the BC Greens had lost a seat they’d hoped to pick up in West Vancouver.
Counting continued in four races.
In Langley East, the NDP’s Megan Dykeman held a 2,126 vote lead over BC Liberal Margaret Kunst as of noon.
BC Conservative candidate Ryan Warawa, son of former Conservative MP Mark Warawa, was in third with 3,222 votes, likely setting up future debates of vote-splitting on the right.
The NDP has never won in this riding.
In Vancouver-False Creek, the NDP’s Brenda Bailey held a 1,839-vote lead over BC Liberal and former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan.
Sullivan’s victory of 506 votes in the 2017 election was the fifth-closest race in that contest, and the NDP poured resources into the riding this year, including pledging a new elementary school.
In Vernon-Monashee, the NDP’s hopes of a historic Okanagan breakthrough grew, with Harwinder Sandhu pulling ahead of Liberal incumbent Eric Foster by 282 votes.
The BC Liberals led in Surrey-White Rock, where newcomer Trevor Halford held a 532-vote lead over NDP challenger Bryn Smith.
In addition to the seats declared Saturday, the NDP also flipped former Parksville-Qualicum by 2,052 votes, with Adam Walker defeating former BC Liberal cabinet minister Michelle Stillwell.
And BC Liberal Michael Lee held his seat in Vancouver-Langara, beating rising NDP star Tessica Truong by 1,457 votes.