BC NDP leader John Horgan’s gamble for his provincial power lead him to win the jackpot. His party will be able to form a majority government for the first time in 20 years.
After a six-week long campaign, Horgan will be making history as the first leader of the BC NDP party to win a second consecutive term as premier.
The NDP party is expected to take 55 out of the 87 ridings across the province, which is an increase from the 41 seats the party held before.
At his victory speech on Saturday, Horgan said he will be “going back to work on Monday,” and will continue his focus on keeping British Columbians safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Horgan went on to say that although it is predicted that an NDP majority government will be made, many mail-in and absentee ballots still need to be counted.
“BC has voted, and a majority has been called, but there are many, many hundreds of thousands of votes yet to be counted,” said Horgan.
Although the BC Greens did not win the election, they had major gain and are projected to win three seats. This is an increase from the two seats they held when the legislature was dissolved in September. BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau was only newly elected as the party’s leader one week before Horgan called the election.
She has been vocal from the start that a pandemic is not the time to start an election.
In her speech on Saturday, Furstenau claimed the NDP government had called the election to take over the two Green Party elected ridings.
“The NDP engineered this election to get a majority, and to wipe out their opponents. They were half successful,” Furstenau said.
She went on to say that although COVID-19 relief is the most important job for the government to focus on, there is still a lot to do for the climate and the environment. She pledged to hold the NDP government accountable for this.
It was a big loss for the BC Liberals on election day, as they are expected to lose 12 seats. This would leave them with only 29 seats overall. BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson thanked all of his supporters and volunteers at his speech on election night.
“The NDP are clearly ahead and appears they will have the opportunity to form government, but with almost half a million ballots still to be counted, we don’t know what the final seat count will be,” Wilkinson said.
Although Wilkinson and his party are still awaiting the final tally, Wilkinson has announced he will be stepping down as the leader of the BC Liberals.
Wilkinson, who has been the leader of the official opposition since 2018, announced his resignation during a brief address to the media on Monday.
“Leading the BC Liberals has been a great honour—now it’s time for me to make room for someone else to take over this role,” Wilkinson said.
The final ballot count begins November 6 and the official return to government is November 16.