The final count has been completed in B.C.’s nail-biting 2024 election, with incumbent Premier David Eby managing to clinch another victory for the NDP.
After tallying all remaining absentee ballots Monday night, Elections B.C. declared NDP candidates elected in 47 of the province’s 93 ridings, enough for a bare majority.
Conservative candidates were elected in 44 ridings, and Green candidates in two.
But two of the ridings – one held by the NDP, the other by the Conservatives – were close enough to trigger automatic judicial recounts, the results of which could ultimately determine whether Eby leads a majority or minority government.
Message from Eby
In a statement issued late Monday afternoon, as Elections B.C.’s final count was still ongoing, but close to finished, the premier said he had already met with Lt. Gov. Janet Austin, and that she asked him to form government.
He accepted, while acknowledging the pending recounts, and the razor-thin margin by which his party emerged victorious.
“We are listening to the message voters sent with this close election, and will be getting to work on today’s tough challenges right away,” the premier said in a written statement.
“British Columbians have asked us to work together and make life better for them. That is exactly what we intend to do.”
Key to the NDP retaining a majority could be one Lower Mainland riding that flipped away from the Conservatives during the final count.
In Surrey-Guildford, NDP incumbent Garry Begg ended up ahead of his Conservative opponent Honveer Singh Randhawa by just 27 votes.
The margin for a judicial recount – which is mandatory in ridings where the leading candidate is ahead by less than one-five-hundredth of total ballots cast following the final count – was 38 votes.
Randhawa was ahead by 103 votes in the initial count on election night, but saw his lead close to a mere 12 votes after mail-in and assisted telephone ballots were tallied over the weekend.
He ultimately fell behind Begg during the count of absentee votes on Monday.
Judicial recounts, which are overseen by a B.C. Supreme Court justice, must begin between seven and 15 days after Elections B.C. completes its final count, meaning the earliest they might start is Nov. 4.
2nd recount in Kelowna
Another recount will be conducted in Kelowna Centre, which was the second-closest riding in the province in the final count, with Conservative candidate Kristina Loewen ahead of the NDP’s Loyal Wooldridge by 38 votes.
The margin for a judicial recount in that riding was 49 votes.
Similar to Randhawa, Loewen was leading her NDP opponent by 148 votes in the initial count, before watching the gap shrink during the tallying of mail-in and telephone ballots.
Elections B.C. finished counting those votes on Sunday, before sorting roughly 22,500 additional absentee ballots across the province on Monday.
No concerns with count, Conservative official says
In both counts, the votes favoured Eby’s NDP over John Rustad’s Conservatives overall.
That has led to some conspiratorial concerns, expressed on social media, about the integrity of the province’s electoral process.
Notably, the president of the B.C. Conservative Party assured supporters she had not witnessed anything unusual while watching the vote counting over the weekend.
“Staff have been working tirelessly and doing their best within the confines of the legislation that governs their work,” Aisha Estey wrote in her own social post Sunday. “I saw nothing that caused me concern.”
Though Eby will continue on as premier, the dramatic rise of the Conservatives – who won no seats and less than two per cent of the votes in 2020 – remains the most significant development of the 2024 campaign.
“We have made history,” Rustad wrote in a social media post after the final count was released Monday night. “I want to express my gratitude to every British Columbian who participated in this election and voted. Your engagement in our democratic process is invaluable.”
Rustad said he accepted the results of the count, and that he is “ready to begin the important work of leading B.C.’s official Opposition.”
The capitulation of B.C. United
After being kicked out of the B.C. Liberal Party in 2022 for supporting a climate change skeptic on social media, Rustad joined the Conservatives in 2023 and was acclaimed the party’s leader.
With Rustad at the helm, the Conservatives rose steadily in polling in the province, prompting discussions with his former party – which had by then rebranded as B.C. United – about collaborating to avoid vote-splitting on the right when voters went to the polls.
No agreement was reached, but the Conservative surge continued, prompting several B.C. United MLAs to cross the floor and join Rustad’s party.
Ultimately, B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon withdrew his party’s candidates from the ballot and endorsed the Conservatives, setting the party up as the only right-leaning alternative to the NDP with a chance of winning, and paving the way for its historic performance.
Plans for co-operative government
The NDP’s MLA-elect for Delta North, speaking on behalf of the party while counting was still underway, pledged to take a co-operative approach to governing during their third term.
“Work is happening to move forward to ensure that there’s a strong government in place, (so) we can get to work on the important issues,” Ravi Kahlon told CTV News.
“But the co-operation that we’ve committed to – working with other parties – will still remain.”
He added that the NDP will not only work with Green colleagues, but try to convince Conservative MLAs to vote with them, too.
“John Rustad says he’s going to do anything he can to force another election, but he also has said that he’s not going to whip votes,” said Kahlon. “So we’re going to go to individual MLAs to try to find ways for them to work with us as well.”