Two weeks after B.C. election, votes still being counted in Vernon-Monashee riding

It’s been two weeks since residents in the riding of Vernon-Monashee cast their votes in the provincial general election.

Sometime soon, possibly Sunday or Monday, a tight race between three-term incumbent Eric Foster of the BC Liberals and NDP candidate Harwinder Sandhu will be decided.

As of Saturday afternoon, the riding was still too close to call, with Sandhu sporting an incredibly narrow 50-vote lead with 121 of 122 polls reporting.

Sandhu had garnered 7,894 votes, or 35.1 per cent. Foster was right behind at 7,844 votes, or 34.9 per cent.

Keli Westgate of the BC Greens was a distant third at 16.1 per cent (3,621 votes), with Kyle Delfing of the Conservative Party of B.C. in fourth at 13.9 per cent (3,124).

On Friday, staff at BC elections began counting an estimated 660,000 uncounted ballots. That process was expected to take at least three days.

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The Vernon-Monashee riding was one of two voting regions in B.C.’s Southern Interior not to be decided on election night.

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The other was Fraser-Nicola, where Jackie Tegart of the BC Liberals came out on top with 41.6 per cent of the vote (5,696 votes), just ahead of NDP candidate Aaron Sumexheltza at 39.6 per cent (5,414 votes).

Tegart’s margin of victory was 282 votes.

Ten other ridings were also too close to call entering Saturday, with nine in the Lower Mainland and the 10th being Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast.

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Other Okanagan and region riding results are as below:

Boundary-Similkameen

(98 of 99 polls reporting)

• Roly Russell, BC NDP: 10,500 votes, 49.9 per cent
• Petra Veintimillia, BC Liberals: 7,735 votes, 36.7 per cent
• Darryl Seres, Conservative Party of BC: 2,354 votes, 11.2 per cent

Kelowna-Lake Country

(117 of 117 polls reporting)

• Norm Letnick, BC Liberals: 14,679 votes, 55.7 per cent
• Justin Kulik, BC NDP, 7,121 votes, 27.0 per cent
• John Janmaat, BC Green Party, 3,833 votes, 14.6 per cent

Kelowna-Mission

(113 of 114 polls reporting)

• Renee Merrifield, BC Liberals: 13,483 votes, 50.8 per cent
• Krystal Smith, BC NDP, 8,605 votes, 32.4 per cent
• Amanda Poon, BC Green Party, 4,476 votes, 16.8 per cent

Kelowna West

(112 of 113 polls reporting)

• Ben Stewart, BC Liberals: 12,991 votes, 49.9 per cent
• Spring Hawes, BC NDP: 8,854 votes, 34.0 per cent
• Peter Truch, BC Green Party: 3,274 votes, 12.6 per cent

Penticton

(129 of 130 polls reporting)

• Dan Ashton, BC Liberals: 10,562 votes, 49.2 per cent
• Toni Boot, BC NDP: 7,766 votes, 36.2 per cent
• Ted Shumaker, BC Green Party: 2,488 votes, 11.6 per cent

Shuswap

(109 of 109 polls reporting)

• Greg Kyllo, BC Liberals: 13,300 votes, 51.4 per cent
• Sylvia Lindgren, BC NDP, 8,816 votes, 34.0 per cent
• Owen Madden, BC Green Party: 3,784 votes, 14.6 per cent

Vernon-Monashee

(121 of 122 polls reporting)

• Harwinder Sandhu, BC NDP: 7,894 votes, 35.1 per cent
• Eric Foster, BC Liberals: 7,844 votes, 34.9 per cent
• Keli Westgate, BC Green Party: 3,621 votes, 16.1 per cent
• Kyle Delfing, Conservative Party of BC: 3,124 votes, 13.9 per cent

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