Two Surrey ridings 香蕉视频直播� one currently NDP, the other Conservative 香蕉视频直播� could still switch hands this weekend as Elections BC heads into its final count for the Oct. 19 B.C. election.
The final count will include mail-in and absentee ballots, as well as recounts of votes cast on election night.
With the provincial race sitting at 46 NDP, 45 Conservative and two Green, this weekend's final count will determine whether any party has achieved the 47 seats necessary for a majority government, or whether a coalition or agreement with the Greens will be necessary for either the NDP's David Eby or Conservative John Rustad to become the next premier.
Yesterday (Friday, Oct. 25), Elections BC announced the number of certification envelopes it would be opening as part of the final count, including mail-in and assisted telephone votes, plus special and absentee ballots. Those ballots total 66,074 across B.C.'s 93 electoral districts.
In two Surrey ridings, those remaining ballots could conceivably impact the outcome of close races 香蕉视频直播� with 476 votes to count in Surrey-City Centre, and another 634 in Surrey-Guildford.
In Surrey-City Centre, the B.C. NDP's Amna Shah currently leads the Conservatives' Zeeshan Wahla by under 100 votes (93, as currently reflected on the Elections BC results website). The riding is already set for an automatic recount, which will take place tomorrow (Sunday, Oct. 27) starting at 1 p.m.
The recount includes all ballots for the riding that were counted on election night and ballots cast by voters on Election Day in other districts. All ballots will be hand-counted.
The other close race to watch in today's final count is Surrey-Guildford, where B.C. NDP incumbent Garry Begg lost to Conservative challenger Honveer Singh Randhawa by a margin that currently stands at 103 votes 香蕉视频直播� just missing the threshold for an automatic recount. Elections BC denied Begg's request for a recount of the riding leading up to final count weekend.
In two other Surrey ridings, both won by Conservatives, the number of votes left to count is higher than the margin of victory for the leading candidate 香蕉视频直播� but, in both cases, a change is unlikely given the vote spread.
One is Surrey-Panorama, where Conservative Bryan Tepper knocked off NDP incumbent Jinny Sims by 354 votes. In that riding, 502 ballots remain to be counted. The other is Surrey-Serpentine River, where Conservative Linda Hepner recorded a 510-vote win over the NDP's Baltej Singh Dhillon, with 542 votes left to be counted.
In the remaining six Surrey ridings, the final count will have no impact on the outcome, since the number of votes left to count is smaller than the margin of victory. Those are:
- Surrey South: Conservative Brian Chapman up by 3,846 votes, with 604 left to count
- Surrey North: Conservative Mandeep Dhaliwal up by 1,260 votes, with 493 left to count
- Surrey-Cloverdale: Conservative Elenore Sturko up by 676 votes, with 638 left to count
- Surrey-White Rock: Conservative Trevor Halford up by 1,098 votes, with 854 left to count
- Surrey-Newton: NDP Jessie Sunner up by 1,120 votes, with 455 left to count
- Surrey-Fleetwood: NDP Jagrup Brar up by 582 votes, with 549 left to count
(Elections BC notes that the number of mail-in and absentee ballots counted may still change slightly, as each certification envelope must be scrutinized and verified. Certification envelopes that contain no ballot or more than one marked ballot will not be counted.)
Elections BC says electoral districts will be counted one at a time today, ordered by the closeness of the race. An initial update is expected at 1 p.m.; Black Press Media is continuing to follow and will update as numbers become available.
Final counts will wind up by Oct. 28.
More to come.
