The NDP’s Ronna Rae Leonard was holding a 101-vote lead over Liberal Jim Benninger in Courtenay-Comox Tuesday evening, the tightly-contested riding that could determine the outcome of British Columbia’s election.
Leonard had a nine-vote lead on election night, but Benninger took a three-vote lead on Tuesday afternoon as Elections BC counted absentee ballots. By day’s end, Leonard was breathing a little easier after gaining a triple-digit lead by the end of day.
More than 900 ballots will be counted on Wednesday.
A Liberal victory in the riding would give Christy Clark’s party 44 seats, enough for a slim majority government in the 87-seat legislature.
As the counting continued, several groups opposed to the Site C hydroelectric dam and the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project called for a coalition to be formed between the New Democrats and Greens, if the final results produce a minority government.
After the counting was done on election night, the Liberals had 43 seats, the NDP had 41 and the Greens had three.
– With files from The Canadian Press