The BC NDP will remain in power, but it is still up in the air whether it will be a minority, or majority government.
The NDP appears to have a majority in the BC legislature after winning 47 of the 93 seats when the party took the lead in the Surrey-Guildford riding during the final count.
However, as of 5 pm on Monday, Garry Begg of the NDP had defeated Honveer Singh Randhawa of the Conservative Party by just 18 votes.
Elections BC says “district electoral officers must apply for a judicial recount if there is a tie vote or if the difference between the first two candidates is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered.”
As the final count got underway the initial focus was on two ridings where less than one-hundred votes separated the NDP and Conservative candidates.
In both, the NDP was able to maintain its lead.
In Juan de Fuca-Malahat, the NDP’s Dana Lajeunesse defeated Marina Sapozhnikov of the Conservatives by 127 votes, and in Surrey-City Centre, Amna Shah of the NDP beat Zeeshan Wahla by 229 votes.
The NDP received just under 45 per cent of the votes cast, while the conservatives got just over 43 percent in a very close race throughout the campaign.
The BC Green party elected two members and would be the potential king-maker in a minority situation.
