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B.C. election results stand after recount

Result in Saanich North and the Islands unchanged - Adam Olsen to be the next MLA
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Vote counting is complete and the provincial election result from May 9 remains the same.

After the final count for the 41st B.C. provincial election wrapped up May 24, the total number of seats in the B.C. Legislature stood at: 43 for the BC Liberal Party; 41 for the BC NDP, and; three for the BC Green Party. The result leaves the provincial government in a minority situation, held by the BC Liberals.

Elections BC completed recounts this week in a few close ridings - including that of Courtenay-Comox, where NDP candidate Ronna-Rae-Leonard led after polls closed on May 9 by only nine votes. After the May 24 recount — and the counting of absentee ballots, she stretched her lead to 189 votes and won that riding.

“British Columbians have voted overwhelmingly to replace Christy Clark’s Liberals with a new government that works better for families,” BC NDP Leader John Horgan stated in a media release Wednesday. “They voted for better schools, shorter wait times for health services, to defend our coast and to fix our broken political system. The newly elected BC NDP team will be working hard every day to ensure British Columbians get a new government that works for them instead of just the wealthy and well-connected.”

All three main political parties were expected to make statements Wednesday afternoon on the final results.

According to Elections BC, there will be no judicial recounts in any of the ridings — including the ones with very tight results — as none reached the threshold to trigger it (where the difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500 of the total ballots considered, or if there’s a tie).

That does not preclude a candidate or a party’s application to the Supreme Court of B.C. for a recount on the basis that errors were made, or that ballot accounts are not correct. Applications for a judicial recount in any electoral district must be made up to six days after the conclusion of the final count.

In Saanich North and the Islands, the final result did not change after all ballots - including absentee ballots - were counted.

Green Party MLA-elect Adam Olsen finished with 14,775 votes, or 41.95 per cent of votes cast. The NDP’s Gary Holman finished with 10,764 votes (30.56 per cent) and the BC Liberal’s Stephen Roberts received 9,321 (26.46 per cent). Independent candidate Jordan Templeman ended up with 364 votes (1.03 per cent).