Absentee voters from the North Shore tended to support opposition challengers over B.C. Liberal incumbents final election results show.
Following the unofficial election results on May 9, there were still 11,564 absentee ballots cast at polling stations outside the riding or by mail yet to be counted for the North Shore’s four ridings.
By the time the dust had settled in North Vancouver-Lonsdale, NDP MLA-elect Bowinn Ma finished with 12,361 votes or 45.45 per cent overall, widening the gap slightly from election night. Outgoing Liberal Naomi Yamamoto’s final tally was 10,373 or 38.14 per cent. Green Party candidate Richard Warrington placed third with 4,148 votes (15.25 per cent) and Libertarian Donald N.S. Wilson’s 316 votes placed him fourth with 1.16 per cent overall.
In North Vancouver-Seymour, absentee ballots loosened Liberal incumbent Jane Thornthwaite’s hold on the seat by about one per cent but were nowhere near enough to cause the seat to flip. Official results show Thornthwaite took 13,194 votes (46.36 per cent).
NDP candidate Michael Charrois and Green Party candidate Joshua Johnson both saw their vote shares increase by about half a per cent each with absentee ballots, finishing with 9,808 (34.47 per cent) and 5,208 (18.30 per cent) respectively.
B.C. Libertarian party leader Clayton Welwood finished fourth with 247 (0.87 per cent.)
With 3,712 absentee ballots, North Vancouver-Seymour had the second highest amount in B.C.
West Vancouver-Capilano’s absentee voters also swayed the final results by less than a percentage point each. Liberal incumbent Ralph Sultan held the seat comfortably with 13,596 votes (57.14 per cent, down half a per cent from May 9).
NDP challenger Mehdi Russel’s final result was 5,622 or 23.63 per cent. Green Michael Markwick’s total tally was 4,575 (19.23 per cent).
In West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, there were 1,835 more ballots to be counted, the only riding on the North Shore with less than the provincial average of 2064.
Re-elected Liberal Jordan Sturdy was the only incumbent absentee voters favoured seeing his final result inch up to 10,449 (43.08 per cent). The NDP’s Michelle Livaja finished down slightly with 26.93 per cent (6,532 votes total). The Green’s Dana Taylor final result was 6,947 votes (28.64 per cent).
The results reflect largely what happened across the province, resulting in the same seat count, 43 for the Liberals, 41 for the NDP and three for the Greens.
“Where things have landed is pretty much where things settled on the night of the election,” said Tim Schouls, political science instructor at Capilano University. “I think a lot of people hoped that the absentee ballots would result in tipping the balance in favour of one or the other party. But that didn’t happen.”
But that means the MLAs and the province generally are in for an “quite an interesting conundrum” as the parties, none of which have enough seats for a majority government, vie to form government.
Under the law, Christy Clark remains the premier until she is replaced. Clark will have to recall the legislature and hold a speech from the throne to test whether she has the confidence of the legislature, with support from the Green MLAs being key to survival. “Lucky Andrew Weaver really has the opportunity to establish who will be king or queen,” Schouls said. “It’s very important that if anything happens, it should happen very soon.”
