Photo: The Canadian Press

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad, left, and BC NDP Leader David Eby, right, are seen in this two-photo panel during campaign stops in Chilliwack and Vancouver , in British Columbia, October 17, 2024.

UPDATE 4:25 p.m.

Elections BC has released its latest election results following assisted counting of telephone and mail-in ballots in Victoria, but the overall standings remain largely unchanged.

The most recent update came after mail-in votes were counted for B.C.’s hotly contested ridings on Saturday.

Sunday at 4 p.m., Elections BC announced that recounts for the Kelowna Center and Surrey City Center ridings are expected to conclude later this evening, while the recount for Juan de Fuca-Malahat is expected to conclude tomorrow.

In the province’s tightest race, Surrey-Guilford, British Columbia, Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa currently holds a slim lead of just 12 votes over British Columbia NDP candidate Garry Begg. Meanwhile, in Kelowna Centre, Conservative candidate Kristina Lowen maintains a 72-vote advantage over her NDP rival, Loyal Wooldridge.

The counting of mail-in ballots is expected to begin Monday morning at 9 a.m., with results updated hourly as the counting progresses.

Currently, the BC NDP is leading in 46 ridings, while the BC Conservatives are close behind with 45, and the Green Party has picked up two seats.

UPDATE: 1:30 p.m.

Elections BC has now added more updated mail-in voting numbers to its websitebut no new updates have been added in any of the province’s 10 tightest ridings.

The latest update comes after postal votes were counted Saturday for the most contested ridings in British Columbia.

With Sunday’s update at 1 p.m., Kelowna Center BC Conservative candidate Kristina Lowen maintains her 72-vote lead over Loyal Wooldridge of the BC NDP. There are 228 absentee ballots left to be counted in the precinct, which will take place on Monday.

The province’s closest riding remains Surrey-Guilford, where BC Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa holds a 12-vote lead over BC NDP candidate Garry Begg. There are 226 absentee ballots left to count in this precinct.

Automatic recounts in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Center ridings are currently underway, as is a partial recount in the Kelowna Center riding, due to a transcription error involving a tabulator used in the riding.

Results from the Kelowna Center and Surrey City Center recounts are expected to be completed on Sunday, while the Juan de Fuca-Malahat recount won’t be completed until Monday.

The final mail-in ballots in all ridings will be counted on Monday, when British Columbians finally know the final results of the October 19 election.

Currently, the BC NDP is leading in 46 ridings, compared to 45 for the BC Conservatives and two for the Green Party.

UPDATE: 11:10 a.m.

The resumption of counting in last week’s election in British Columbia saw the NDP widen its lead in two crucial races and close to within 12 votes of the BC Conservatives in another.

No leads have changed among a handful of close races, but tally updates provided by Elections BC raise the prospect of an NDP government.

The Conservatives were hoping to overturn the NDP’s lead in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Downtown Surrey, the two closest races after the initial count ended last Sunday, but instead the ongoing count of postal votes allowed the NDP to get a head start.

The NDP now leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat by 106 votes to 23, while the party’s candidate leads in downtown Surrey by 178 votes to 93.

Narrow Conservative leads in Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Center fell below 100.

At the end of the initial count after the October 19 election, neither David Eby’s NDP nor John Rustad’s Conservatives in British Columbia obtained the 47 ridings needed to form a majority in the 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

According to Elections BC’s update Saturday at 4 p.m., the standings remain unchanged with the NDP elected or in the lead with 46 seats and the Conservatives with 45 seats, while the Greens could hold the balance of power after winning two seats .

But that could change, with Conservative lawyer Honveer Singh Randhawa’s lead in Surrey-Guildford over New Democrat incumbent Garry Begg falling from 103 votes to just 12, with 226 ballots remaining to be counted when absentee and special votes are cast. counted across the province on Monday.

Begg, a former RCMP officer, was first elected in 2017 and won the seat in 2020 with more than 60 per cent of the vote.

In Kelowna Centre, the Conservative lead of 148 votes was cut to 72, with 228 absentee and special votes to be counted.

If the NDP maintains its current lead in the undecided election, it will be able to form a minority government if it gains support from the Greens, but if it also wins a Conservative-led race like Surrey-Guildford, it will have the the narrowest of majorities.

To form a majority, the Conservatives must flip two ridings where the NDP is in the lead, and while a minority Conservative government remains a possibility, the ideological gap between the party and the Greens is significant.

The NDP lead widened in Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, while the Conservative lead narrowed in ridings such as Courtney Comox, Maple Ridge East and Surrey Panorama.

More than 43,000 postal ballots were expected to be counted in the province’s 93 ridings, in a process expected to conclude on Sunday.

The electoral authority will also conduct a full recount starting Sunday at 1 p.m. in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Center constituencies as their margins after the initial count were less than 100.

There will be a partial hand recount in Kelowna Center due to a transcription error involving a tabulator used in the riding.

The final count will then be completed on Monday with the counting of more than 22,000 absentee and special ballots, with results updated on the Election BC website every hour that day.

But even after that, judicial recounts could take place in precincts where the margin is less than 1/500th of all votes counted.

British Columbia’s Conservative candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, meanwhile, faces criticism within her own party over comments about Indigenous people.

On Friday, the Vancouver Sun published a recording in which a person identified as Marina Sapozhnikov refers to First Nations people as “savages.” The newspaper says the comments were made during an election night conversation with a journalism student.

Peter Milobar, the Conservative candidate in Kamloops Centre, said on the social media platform “.

Sapozhnikov did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Rustad issued a statement on Saturday saying he was “dismayed and deeply saddened” by Sapozhnikov’s reported comments.

“His comments are not only inaccurate but deeply damaging, painting a distorted picture of the communities I have worked with for many years,” the statement read.

Rustad said the remarks did not reflect his party’s values.

“We take this matter seriously,” he said. “As leader, I am fully committed to ensuring our party leads with respect and understanding for all British Columbians.

– The Canadian Press

ORIGINAL: 6:35 a.m.

Recounts begin this afternoon in two ridings where BC New Democrats held a slight lead after the initial tally from last week’s still-undecided election.

Elections BC says recounts in Juan de Fuca-Malahat on Vancouver Island and in downtown Surrey will begin at 1 p.m. and will be posted online once completed.

The recounts were triggered because their margins after last week’s initial count were less than 100, but counting of postal ballots On Saturday, the NDP’s lead was widened in Juan de Fuca-Malahat to 106 votes and to 178 in downtown Surrey.

A partial recount will also be conducted in Kelowna Center due to a transcription error involving a tabulator used in the riding. After mail-in ballots were counted Saturday, the BC Conservative lead in that riding was reduced to 72.

So far, no lead has changed in the mail-in count that continues today, but the prospects for an NDP government have increased, as the party widens its lead in some close races and reduced conservative margins in others.

The province’s closest undecided riding is Surrey-Guildford, where the Conservative lead was reduced to 12 votes on Saturday.

Prime Minister David Eby’s NDP is elected or ahead with 46 seats and John Rustad’s Conservatives with 45 seats, both short of a 47-seat majority, while the Greens could hold the balance of power with two seats .

The final makeup of the 93 seats in British Columbia’s legislature won’t be known until at least Monday, when more than 22,000 absentee and special votes will be counted.

Judicial recounts could subsequently take place if the margin in a district is less than 1/500th of all votes cast.

– The Canadian Press