NDP lead grows to 13 votes following recount in Courtenay-Comox
Richard Zussman | CBC News | Posted: May 22, 2017 9:25 PM | Last Updated: May 23, 2017
Absentee ballots now being counted across province, some counts finished
The B.C. NDP lead has grown to 13 votes following a recount in the riding of Courtenay-Comox. NDP candidate Ronna Rae Leonard now leads with 10,056 votes to 10,043 votes over Liberal candidate Jim Benninger.
Both parties have scrutineers to watch the recount and the absentee ballot count.
"Everybody wants to make sure everything is checked and doubled checked so that the final vote reflects the intention of the voters," said NDP deputy campaign director Glen Sanford, who is scrutineering the count. "In this case it's such a close race province-wide this could have a real impact on the future of the province."
The election result may rest in the hands of those absentee ballots. There are 2,077 votes that have still not been counted.
Those results are not expected until Tuesday, and possibly even Wednesday.
In the election, the B.C. Liberals won 43 seats, the B.C. NDP, 41 and the B.C. Green Party, 3 — the Liberals are one seat short of a majority government.
If the seat flips from NDP candidate Ronna-Rae Leonard to B.C. Liberal Jim Benninger — and the Liberals are able to hold on to their other seats — it would give the Liberals the slimmest of majorities, with 44 seats. Former Liberal MLA Don McRae was also one of the scrutineers for the recount.
"You know what — politics is still really important to our province and our communities, so I am glad to be here. And I want to know the answers," said McRae.
A recount has also been completed in Vancouver-False Creek. B.C. Liberal incumbent Sam Sullivan's lead has grown from 560 votes to 569 votes over B.C. NDP candidate Morgane Oger. Officials in the riding must now count the 2,814 absentee ballots.
Final count underway throughout B.C.
In the province's other 85 ridings, officials began the final count of ballots, a process that is scheduled to end on Wednesday.
"We'll certainly have a better sense as things progress tomorrow," said Elections BC spokesperson Andrew Watson. "We are updating the Elections BC website through this process."
At the end on Monday, the counts were complete in 16 ridings, and approximately 60,000 of the 179,000 absentee ballots cast had been counted in total. While no ridings have switched hands, the B.C. Liberal Party's total vote lead over the NDP shrunk from 17,676 to 14,514.
- B.C.'s provincial election result rests in the hands of 1 riding
- Courtenay–Comox heading to recount with 9-vote spread
Other than Courtenay-Comox, there are three other ridings that are within 270 votes.
Maple Ridge-Mission went to the NDP by 120 votes on election night, and the party has expanded its margin to 166 votes with around ten per cent of absentee ballots counted. Coquitlam-Burke Mountain went to the B.C. Liberals by 268 votes and all 2,134 absentee ballots are set to be counted.
Richmond-Queensborough was decided by 263 votes and has 1,902 absentee votes to count. With about three-quarters of the absentee ballots counted in that riding, B.C. Liberal Jas Johal's lead shrank to 116 votes over NDP candidate Aman Singh.
Any riding where the margin of victory is within 0.2 per cent will be automatically subject to a final judicial recount. Candidates will also have six days after the final count to request a recount.
With files from Justin McElroy