British Columbia’s provincial election turned out to be just as close as pollsters predicted, with the outcome sitting on a knife edge late Saturday night as the final results trickled in.
As of 10:45 p.m. PT, the BC NDP were leading or elected in 46 seats, the BC Conservatives were leading or elected in 45 seats, and the Greens were leading or elected in two seats.
The NDP had 44.55 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 43.53 for the BC Conservatives and 8.28 for the BC Green Party.
That split, if it holds, would make for an NDP minority government. But with a few poll stations still to report, several races had leads of under 500 votes, and two races, Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey Centre, had the NDP leading by under 50 votes.
If the Conservatives can flip those ridings, it would put them at the 47 seats needed to form a majority government.
Global News had extensive coverage of B.C.’s election night with a province-wide ‘Decision B.C.’ special, featuring up-to-the-minute results and analysis.
Global’s anchors, reporters and two panels of experts broke down the results as they came in, taking a close look at what they mean for British Columbians. Watch the full election special here.