John Horgan’s decision to call an instant election during the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have paid off as Global News projects B.C.’s PND to form a majority government
The NDP is elected or leading in 55 ridings, according to Global News projections, ahead of the BC Liberals who are elected or lead in 29 ridings The Greens lead in three ridings
Horgan recalled the elections on September 21, saying the province needs a majority government to deal with the ongoing global crisis
Horgan has been slammed by British Columbia Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson and new British Columbia Green Leader Sonia Furstenau for sending voters to the polls amid the global pandemic and breaking the deal that ‘he concluded with the Greens in order to form the government in 2017
The Oct 24 vote comes less than a week since provincial health worker Dr Bonnie Henry said BC is now in a second wave of the pandemic, with a growing number of new cases daily of COVID-19 in the past few days
On Friday, Elections BC estimated that only around 65-70% of the votes would be counted on election night, potentially delaying final results in close races
Around 478,900 mail-in ballot papers had been returned by Friday morning, representing about 66% of all mail-in packages requested and issued to date, Elections BC said
Advance votes will be counted on polling day Mail-in ballots will be counted no earlier than 13 days after polling day, in accordance with provincial law
When disbanded in September, the NDP and the Liberals were tied with 41 seats in the Legislature, while the Greens held two seats, two more were independent, and one seat was vacant
BC is second province to go to the polls during COVID-19 pandemic New Brunswick re-elected Progressive Conservatives last month after Premier Blaine Higgs called a snap election Saskatchewan voters will go to the polls on Monday
The Global News Election Special will be broadcast live from 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. PT on Global BC, BC1, AM980 CKNW radio and for free on the Global TV app, Amazon Prime Video or the Global YouTube channel News
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Elections BC
World News – CA – BC Election 2020: British Columbia NDP Plans to Form Majority Government