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Canada's BC provincial election results in apparent Liberal minority

Xinhua, May 10, 2017 Adjust font size:

Voters in the Pacific Canadian province of British Columbia appeared to elect the province's first minority government in 65 years in a nail-biting vote on Tuesday, but several close results and yet-uncounted votes ensured that the dust wouldn't settle on the election outcome for days, or possibly weeks.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, the incumbent BC Liberal Party gained 43 of the province's 87 legislative ridings. The New Democrat Party (NDP) ensured 41 seats while the upstart BC Green Party held three seats. None of the parties won the singular majority of 44 or more seats to govern the province of about 4.6 million people.

In an apparent claim of victory, BC Liberal leader and incumbent Premier Christy Clark said she intended to continue to lead the government.

"Tonight, we won the popular vote," said Clark in a speech at her party election headquarters, shortly after midnight.

"We have also won the most seats," she said to cheers by Liberal party members in a downtown Vancouver hotel ballroom, roughly four hours after they gathered to observe the election results being broadcast on large screens.

"So, it is my intention to continue to lead British Columbia's government," she added.

NDP leader John Horgan refused to concede defeat in his own speech in the early morning hours at a nearby convention center. "British Columbians have waited 16 years for a government that works for them, and we're going to have you to wait a while longer, until all the votes are counted," he said.

Clark, whose government has maintained power for 16 years in B.C. and ran on a platform of smaller government and creating jobs, said the results suggest British Columbians want all three parties to work together.

The result appears to be the first minority government in the province in 65 years. Local reports indicated overall voter turnout at 57 percent, with the runner-up, left-wing NDP party gaining seven seats over the previous election in 2013.

With Tuesday's results failing to clearly define the winners of the 28-day campaign, the parties and voters may have to wait until May 22-24, when the provincial election authority counts the votes of those cast from abroad, which could number in the tens of thousands. Endit