The BC NDP has extended its lead in two critical ridings that will likely determine the outcome of the province’s close provincial election.
Elections BC began counting more than 66,000 mail-in ballots outstanding from ridings across the province on Saturday, a process it expects to complete by late Sunday.
The non-partisan elections authority released its second update on that count at 4 p.m., showing the incumbent New Democrats extending their lead in the tight races in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre.
There were 681 ballots still to be counted in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and 476 in Surrey City Centre as of Saturday morning.
On election night, the NDP led in the former district by just 23 votes and in the latter by 93 votes.
According to the 4 p.m. Update, the NDP now leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat by 106 votes and in Surrey City Centre by 178 votes.
It was not immediately clear if the results from the mail-in ballots, should they hold, would pre-empt recounts planned for both ridings on Monday. Elections BC automatically conducts recounts for races won by fewer than 100 votes. Global News is seeking a clarification from Elections BC.
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The outcome in those two ridings is critical to both the NDP’s and BC Conservatives’ hopes of forming government.
As of Saturday night’s preliminary results, the NDP held 46 seats, the Conservatives 45 and the BC Greens 2 — currently a minority government situation. Forty-seven seats are needed for a majority.
If the Conservatives manage to flip both, they would form a razor-thin majority government.
However, the prospect of an NDP majority government also remained on the table on Saturday.
On election night, the BC Conservatives held a narrow lead of 102 votes in Surrey-Guildford.
Elections BC’s 4 p.m. update for that riding showed the NDP narrowing the gap to just 12 votes.
It also reported that the BC Conservative lead in Kelowna Centre, which stood at 149 on election night, had fallen to 72 votes.
If the NDP can flip either and hold onto all of their other seats, they would have enough MLAs to form a majority.
The NDP, meanwhile, can form a minority government with the Greens if they maintain their leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre while holding all their seats won in the initial tally.
The Greens can technically also form a minority government with the Conservatives but there is a significant ideological gap between the two parties.
There will also be a partial hand recount in Kelowna Centre due to a transcription error involving one vote-scanning tabulator used in the riding.
The final tally will then be completed on Monday with the counting of any remaining absentee ballots, with results updated on Election BC’s website throughout the day.
With files from the Canadian Press
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