British Columbia is an evenly divided province this morning, politically, as final votes are tallied following the Oct. 19 provincial election.

A blue wave of Conservative Party support has pulled the party almost dead even with the BC NDP, which at this time is elected or leading in 46 ridings, while the Conservatives have won or are leading in 45 ridings, while the Green Party has captured two seats.

Locally, Conservative Party candidate Pete Davis will become Kootenay Rockies MLA, capturing about 42.8% of votes (8,114) compared to incumbent Tom Shypitka (Independent) who earned 30.5% of the votes (5,776).

Sam Atwal (BC New Democratic Party) captured 4,088 votes (21.6%) and Kerri Wall (Green Party) picked up 971 votes (5.1%).

Scott McInnis (Conservative Party) also appears to be the new MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke, capturing 8,615 votes (48.1%), slightly ahead of Andrea Dunlop (BC NDP) who received 7,901 votes (44.1%), while Calvin Beauchesne (Green Party) had 1,393 votes (7.8%).

These figures are not final, Elections BC said.

“With B.C.’s vote anywhere model, some districts are reporting out-of-district results from dozens of other contests. Write-in ballots also take longer to count than ordinary ballots,” it noted.

The close result means the election will come down to the final polls, mail in ballots and out-of-district votes. Mail in ballots are not expected to be fully counted until Oct. 26.

Elections BC reports automatic recounts will take place in electoral districts where the margin between the top two candidates is 100 votes or fewer at the conclusion of initial count. These recounts will take place during final count, scheduled for October 26 to 28.

Lead image: Scott McInnis and Pete Davis, new MLAs for Columbia River-Revelstoke and Kootenay Rockies ridings.  Conservative Party images

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