Canada: Conservatives lead in 64 of 93 seats in British Columbia election; David Eby says he will resign as premier and NDP leader

The Conservative Party of British Columbia is projected to win a majority in the Canadian province’s legislature after Saturday’s election, CBC News reported, which would be the party’s first majority government since 1928.

In Elections BC’s initial count, completed early on Sunday 25 October, the Conservatives were ahead in 64 of the 93 ridings, the governing BC New Democratic Party (NDP) in 27 and the BC Green Party in two, according to BC Ballot, which tracks the official figures. A party needs 47 seats for a majority. In the 2024 election the NDP won 47 seats and the Conservatives 44.

“B.C. is definitely blue,” Conservative leader and premier-designate Lorne Doerkson said in his victory speech, CBC reported. Premier David Eby, who called the election two years early, told supporters: “Sad to say that I’ll be offering my resignation as premier, obviously, but just as importantly as the leader of the BC NDP,” CTV News and Global News reported. Eby was leading in his own riding of Vancouver-Point Grey by about 540 votes.

Green Party leader Emily Lowan was leading in Saanich North and the Islands, while the leaders of OneBC, Dallas Brodie, and CentreBC, Elenore Sturko, were trailing Conservative candidates in their ridings.

The results are not final. All vote-by-mail ballots, and some other categories, will be counted at the final count scheduled for 6 to 10 November, Elections BC says. Two ridings, Burnaby South-Metrotown and Ladysmith-Oceanside, had margins of fewer than 100 votes, within the limit at which a candidate may request a recount by 28 October.