Students elect an NDP majority government in mock election

Almost 100,000 students elected an NDP government and a Liberal opposition in a parallel election involving schools across the province.

“Approximately 100,000 ballots have been cast in Student Vote BC and we are delighted by this turnout,” said Taylor Gunn, founder of the Student Vote program. “This exceeds our previous highest turnout by 15,000 votes. As well, we have had more than 650 schools return Student Vote results, which represents an increase of more than 100 schools since the 2011 federal election.”

The NDP won 53 seats, forming a majority government, and captured 38.55 per cent of the popular vote. Students voted in Adrian Dix in Vancouver-Kingsway, receiving 59.52 per cent of the vote.

The Liberals ended up with 20 seats and 28.09 per cent of the popular vote, but did not vote in Liberal leader Christy Clark in her riding of Vancouver-Point Grey. She only received 28.50 per cent of the vote and was defeated by NDP candidate David Eby, with 40.42 per cent.

Students in Victoria-Beacon Hill did vote in Jane Sterk, with 42.81 per cent, and in totally, the Green Party won 8 seats and 17.28 per cent of the popular vote.

The BC Conservatives did not win any seats, but did receive 8.50 per cent of the popular vote.

Four independent candidates were elected by the students: John Van Dongen in Abbotsford South, Bob Simpson in Cariboo North, Vicki Huntington in Delta South and Arthur Austin Hadland in Peace River North.

In a few ‘ridings to watch’ where traditionally the winning candidate matches the winning party, students elected NDP candidate Kathy Kendall in Kamloops-North Thompson, and Liberal party candidate Todd Graham Stone in Kamloops-South Thompson.

In the riding of Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where the Green Party has the biggest chance of getting a candidate elected, students did elected Green candidate Andrew Weaver.

Elementary and high school students participated, and at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, almost 100,000 votes were reported from 666 schools across B.C.

For a full set of results, go to the Student Vote website.

Student Vote is a parallel election program coinciding with the British Columbia provincial election. After learning about the democratic process, researching the party platforms, hosting candidate forums and debating the future of British Columbia, students cast their ballots for local candidates.

Since this program began, students have voted for the same governing party as the adults in 16 out of 19 elections across Canada. However, students in B.C. selected an NDP majority government in both 2005 and 2009.

Student Vote is the flagship program of CIVIX.