Final Count Watch: The NDP’s Remaining Map Is Still on a Knife Edge
The snap-election verdict was already severe. Elections BC’s own numbers show the NDP’s remaining seat count is still not fully settled.
David Eby asked British Columbians to settle a snap election two years early. They settled the government question decisively. But the accountability story is not over, because Elections BC’s own event-night reporting still has a bright warning label on the map: initial count is in progress, results are preliminary, and final count is set for November 6.
That matters because final count is not a clerical afterthought. Elections BC says ballots not counted on election night include vote-by-mail ballots, assisted telephone voting ballots, absentee ballots from special voting opportunities, and absentee ballots from final voting day. Those ballots are counted about two weeks after election day after eligibility checks. In other words, narrow ridings are still real contests until the official count is done.
The province-wide picture is already brutal for the NDP. As of Elections BC’s October 25, 5:04 p.m. snapshot, Conservatives were leading in 63 electoral districts, the BC NDP in 28, and the Greens in 2, with 99.96 per cent of ballot boxes reporting. CityNews, citing The Canadian Press, reported that premier-designate Lorne Doerkson led the Conservatives to victory, while outgoing premier David Eby announced he would resign as NDP leader.
But the seat ledger can still tighten. In Ladysmith-Oceanside, Elections BC shows NDP candidate Stephanie Higginson at 13,380 votes and Conservative Kris McNichol at 13,367 — a margin of only 13 votes before final count. That is not a cushion. That is a receipt balanced on a pin.
In Burnaby South-Metrotown, NDP candidate Paul Choi sits at 5,811 votes to Conservative David Xie’s 5,745, a 66-vote margin. In Kootenay Central, NDP candidate Brittny Anderson leads Conservative Gordon Skulnec by 466. In Vancouver-Point Grey, Eby’s own riding shows him ahead of Conservative Alex McMillan by 538. Those are preliminary leads, not settled trophies.
None of this proves any specific riding will change hands. It does prove the NDP’s defeat was not just a headline result; it cut deep enough that even parts of the surviving caucus remain exposed to final-count pressure. After nearly a decade in power, the party is not waiting for final count to confirm a triumph. It is waiting to learn exactly how much smaller the public made the opposition bench.
The honest standard is simple: no victory laps in seats where Elections BC has not finished counting, and no excuses for a government that called an early election only to watch its mandate collapse into razor-thin defensive lines.