BC NDP candidate Maurine Karagianis won her third term in office over Liberal candidate Chris Ricketts Tuesday night.
Karagianis beat Ricketts, a former president of the Canadian Home Builders Association of B.C., by 45 per cent to 32 per cent.
Karagianis also beat Susan Low, who had 21 per cent of votes, a local business consultant and volunteer, who ran a grassroots campaign for months as the B.C. Green Party candidate.
In 2009, Karagianis won this riding for a second straight time, defeating Liberal Carl Ratsoy by nearly 5,000 votes, 53-30%. Green Party leader Jane Sterk finished in third place with 17% of the vote.
An Esquimalt riding has existed since the very first provincial election in 1871. Today it comprises Esquimalt, Royal Roads, Colwood, and Northern Metchosin.
The riding has gone to the NDP in eight of the last 10 elections, with the party having large support in Esquimalt, and right-wing parties doing better in newer suburbs in View Royal and Colwood.
Former Conservative leader Robert Henry Pooley held this seat from 1912 to 1937.
Karagianis is the critic for the Liquor Distribution Branch and was first elected in 2005, after losing in her first attempt to take the riding in 2001.
Before she was an MLA, Karagianis was an Esquimalt councillor from 1996-2005, and an assistant to several NDP cabinet minsiters.
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