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Judicial recount dates set for two B.C. ridings to wrap up provincial election

  • Chuck Chiang

  • Canadian Press

  • October 31, 2024

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby greets supporters as he and his wife Cailey Lynch leave after speaking on election night in Vancouver, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Premier David Eby's new cabinet will be sworn in on Nov. 18, a group that will feature a significant number of new ministers as a number of incumbents lost their re-election bids in October while others didn't run. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VICTORIA -- Vote counting in the British Columbia provincial election will finally conclude next week with judicial recounts set for two ridings.

Elections BC says the province's Supreme Court has confirmed recounts in Kelowna Centre and Surrey-Guildford will take place on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8.

Both ridings saw the margin of victory within the threshold to trigger judicial recounts after the final tally this week of mail-in and absentee ballots from the Oct. 19 election.

The NDP candidate is leading his Conservative opponent by 27 votes in Surrey-Guildford, while the margin between the Conservative candidate in Kelowna Centre over her NDP opponent is 38 votes.

Surrey-Guildford was the only riding where the winner changed during final ballot count, giving Premier David Eby's NDP the narrowest of majorities with 47 seats.

The B.C. Conservatives, a party that won less than two per cent of the popular vote in the last election, surged to hold 44 seats in the latest vote, while the Green Party took two seats.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.