Oppal awaits results of recount for Delta South seat

There will be an automatic recount in the Delta South riding after preliminary election results show star B.C. Liberal candidate Wally Oppal beat independent Vicki Huntington by a mere two votes.

B.C.'s election law requires a recount when the margin is fewer than 100 votes. Final results of the recount won't be available until May 27.

Delta South turned out to be the tightest race in Tuesday's general election.

Huntington, a five-term Delta city councillor, won 9,617 votes, while Oppal got 9,619 after all 117 ballot boxes were reported by 1:30 a.m. PT Wednesday.

Speaking on CBC Radio's The Early Edition Wednesday morning, Oppal said a lot of voters were upset over the construction of hydro lines in the riding, and that showed in the results.

"The people are still angry at the power lines, and even people who are not living near the power lines are upset at it," Oppal said.

More than 2,000 Delta residents had called unsuccessfully on the Liberal government to halt the BC Transmission Corporation project.

The project, which began in June of last year, involved replacing 70 existing wooden power poles along a long-established right-of-way with 20 taller steel structures capable of handling higher-voltage lines to provide greater power to Vancouver Island.

"To them, it was an indication that the provincial government wasn't listening to them," Oppal said on the radio program.

Despite the outcome of the election, Oppal said he has no regrets about jumping to Delta South to make way for former West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed to run in his old riding, Vancouver-Fraserview.

Oppal was first elected as an MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview in 2005. He has been living in Delta for more than a decade.

Heed beat NDP opponent Gabriel Yiu by more than 800 votes after 134 ballot boxes were reported by 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.