Three-term Liberal incumbent Eric Foster is in a tight race with his NDP challenger, and it was too close to call on election night.
After the initial election night count, Foster was leading by just 180 votes over the NDP’s Harwinder Sandhu in the riding of Vernon-Monashee.
Foster has earned 35.06 per cent of the vote, compared to the NDP’s 34.13 per cent, with all 121 polls reporting.
However, that initial count does not include mail-in or absentee ballots which could change the result.
Due to the pandemic, more than 8,700 voters in the Vernon-Monashee riding requested vote-by-mail packages.
Because the race is so close, the final result is not expected to be determined until all mail-in ballots are counted.
The final count, which includes mail-in and absentee votes, typically starts 13 days after election day.
On election night, Foster said he wasn’t surprised by the tight race because a Conservative candidate was running in the riding.
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The incumbent admitted the Conservative candidate likely split the vote on the right of the political spectrum.
The riding, like others in the Okanagan and area, has a long history of voting for centre-right parties.
In the 2017 provincial election, Foster was elected for a third consecutive term.
A former mayor of Lumby for four years and councillor for 12 years, Foster captured 47.9 per cent of the vote (13,625), well ahead of second-place finisher Barry Dorval of the NDP (29.4 per cent, 8,355 votes).
Keli Westgate of the Green Party was third at 21.6 per cent (6,139).
Foster was first elected in 2009. In 2013, he garnered 46.3 per cent of the vote (12,503). The NDP candidate, Mark Olsen, was second at 34.2 per cent (9,233).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots were requested across B.C. this election. As mail-in ballots cannot be counted until after election night, this may change the outcome of this riding.