UPDATED: The final count of provincial election ballots has flipped a seat where the BC Conservatives previously led, handing the NDP the riding of Surrey-Guildford and slim majority government.
Premier David Eby announced late Monday afternoon that he met with Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin and she asked him to form the next government.
"Based on today’s final vote count, and pending judicial recounts, British Columbians have asked our BC NDP team to lead our province for a third time. It is an incredible honour and a huge responsibility. We are listening to the message voters sent with this close election, and will be getting to work on today’s tough challenges right away,” said Eby in a statement.
As of the 5pm update from Elections BC, NDP candidate Garry Begg leads Conservative candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa in Surrey-Guildford with only 16 votes separating the two. It was a reversal from election night, when the Conservatives held a slim lead before absentee ballots were added.
The final count is still in progress (as of 5pm Monday). The flipped riding of Surrey-Guildford is so close it will likely trigger a judicial recount.
If the result holds, it bumps David Eby's NDP up to 47 seats, the minimum required for a majority government in the 93 seat Legislature. The Conservatives drop to 44 and the Greens stay with two seats. Even if the NDP provide a Speaker of the House from their own ranks reducing their number to 46, the Speaker could break ties in confidence votes and allow the NDP to stay standing.
Full recounts in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Centre did not change the party standings and both remained with the NDP. Those two were so close on election night that recounts were automatically triggered. A partial recount also went ahead in Kelowna Centre where the Conservative candidate remained the winner.