David Eby asked to be premier after narrow BC NDP win | Daily Hive

David Eby asked to form government after narrow BC NDP win and long wait for voters

David Eby. (BC NDP)

The province has a familiar face at the helm after Elections BC completed the final count Monday night, bringing long-awaited answers more than a week after British Columbians went to the polls. While BC NDP leader David Eby will once again serve as premier, it was not the major victory the party was hoping for.

Premier-elect David Eby issued a statement Monday following the final count, saying Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin asked him to form the next government.

“Based on today’s final vote count, and pending judicial recounts, British Columbians have asked our BC NDP team to lead our province for a third time. It is an incredible honour and a huge responsibility. We are listening to the message voters sent with this close election, and will be getting to work on today’s tough challenges right away,” he said in a statement.

According to Elections BC’s final count, the BC NDP will form a narrow majority government, with 47 seats to the BC Conservatives 44 seats. A party needs 47 seats for a majority government, putting the BC NDP on shaky ground should the two Green Party candidates vote against them or should the outcome of two ridings now sent to a judicial recount flip.

A statement from the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia on the 2024 BC Provincial Election: pic.twitter.com/s2E9rmmsiB

— Janet Austin (@LGJanetAustin) October 29, 2024

Two ridings, Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat, were so close they triggered automatic recounts. Surrey City Centre was projected to go to the NDP, and the recount shows that it did. BC NDP candidate Amna Shah narrowly beat BC Conservative candidate Zeeshan Wahla by more than 200 votes.

According to the final count Monday, Juan de Fuca-Malahat went to BC NDP Dana Lajeunesse over BC Conservatives Marina Sapozhnikov, with a difference of just 125 votes.

Surrey-Guildford was more than 100 votes apart on election night, with the Conservative candidate projected to win. But on Monday, the absentee ballots revealed it had flipped, with fewer than 30 votes separating BC NDP candidate Garry Begg over BC Conservative candidate Honveer Randhawa.

Kelowna Centre was also incredibly close, with a difference of 38 votes.

“The results in the Kelowna Centre and Surrey-Guildford electoral districts are subject to automatic judicial recounts. Under the Election Act, judicial recounts must take place if, at the conclusion of final count, the difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500th of the total ballots considered,” Elections BC explained Monday, which means both Surrey-Guildford and Kelowna Centre will go to a judicial recount.

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According to officials, a record 2,107,152 voters cast a ballot this election, and preliminary voter turnout was an estimated 58.3%.

David Eby’s path to power

While Eby served as BC’s premier before the election, his leadership of the party did not actually start with an election.

Instead, he took on the role after then-Premier John Horgan announced he would be stepping away for health reasons after winning the 2020 election. Eby became BC’s 37th premier in November 2022.

Before becoming premier, Eby served as the minister responsible for housing and the attorney general for Horgan’s cabinet.

David Eby. (BC NDP)

In the 2024 election campaign, the NDP promised constituents it would make streets safer, boost household budgets through tax cuts, build 300,000 new homes, crack down on speculators, and get a doctor for every British Columbian. Eby also doubled down on previous election promises to extend the $10-a-day childcare by building new childcare spaces.

The NDP also promised sweeping new transportation infrastructure, including growing and improving public transit. The party said it would also complete the $40 million SkyTrain Millennium Line extension from Arbutus to the University of British Columbia campus.

David Eby. (BC NDP)

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While Eby has reclaimed his seat, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau did not. Furstenau lost her riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill to BC NDP MLA-elect Grace Lore.

She spoke on October 19 in her concession speech, saying she was “so heartened” by the support she received.

“The Greens are still going to play a pivotal role in the BC Legislature,” she said.

Elected candidates according to Elections BC

Abbotsford-Mission – Reann Gasper, Conservative Party
Abbotsford South – Bruce Banman, Conservative Party
Abbotsford West – Korky Neufeld, Conservative Party
Boundary-Similkameen – Donegal Wilson, Conservative Party
Bulkley Valley-Stikine – Sharon L. Hartwell, Conservative Party
Burnaby Centre – Anne Kang, BC NDP
Burnaby East – Reah Arora, BC NDP
Burnaby-New Westminster – Raj Chouhan, BC NDP
Burnaby North – Janet Routledge, BC NDP
Burnaby South-Metrotown – Paul Choi, BC NDP
Cariboo-Chilcotin – Lorne Doerkson, Conservative Party
Chilliwack-Cultus Lake – A’aliya Warbus, Conservative Party
Chilliwack North – Heather Maahs, Conservative Party
Columbia River-Revelstoke – Scott McInnis, Conservative Party
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain – Jodie Wickens, BC NDP
Coquitlam-Maillardville – Jennifer Blatherwick, BC NDP
Courtenay-Comox – Brennan Day, Conservative Party
Cowichan Valley – Debra Toporowski, BC NDP
Delta North – Ravi Kahlon, BC NDP
Delta South – Ian Paton, Conservative Party
Esquimalt-Colwood – Darlene Rotchford, BC NDP
Fraser-Nicola – Tony Luck, Conservative Party
Juan de Fuca-Malahat – Dana Lajeunesse, BC NDP
Kamloops Centre – Peter Milobar, Conservative Party
Kamloops-North Thompson – Ward Stamer, Conservative Party
Kelowna Centre – Kristina Loewen, Conservative Party
Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream – Tara Armstrong, Conservative Party
Kelowna-Mission – Gavin Dew, Conservative Party
Kootenay Central – Brittny Anderson, BC NDP
Kootenay-Monashee – Steve Morissette, BC NDP
Kootenay-Rockies – Pete Davis, Conservative Party
Ladysmith-Oceanside – Stephanie Higginson, BC NDP
Langford-Highlands – Ravi Parmar, BC NDP
Langley-Abbotsford – Harman Bhangu, Conservative Party
Langley-Walnut Grove- Misty Van Popta, Conservative Party
Langley-Willowbrook – Jody Toor, Conservative Party
Maple Ridge East Lawrence Mok, Conservative Party
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Lisa Beare, BC NDP
Mid Island-Pacific Rim Josie Osborne, BC NDP
Nanaimo-Gabriola Island Sheila Malcolmson, BC NDP
Nanaimo-Lantzville George Anderson, BC NDP
Nechako Lakes John Rustad, Conservative Party
New Westminster-Coquitlam Jennifer Whiteside, BC NDP
North Coast-Haida Gwaii – Tamara Davidson, BC NDP
North Island – Anna Kindy, Conservative Party
North Vancouver-Lonsdale – Bowinn Ma, BC NDP
North Vancouver-Seymour – Susie Chant, BC NDP
Oak Bay-Gordon Head – Diana Gibson, BC NDP
Peace River North – Jordan Kealy, Conservative Party
Peace River South – Larry Neufeld, Conservative Party
Penticton-Summerland – Amelia Boultbee, Conservative Party
Port Coquitlam – Mike Farnworth, BC NDP
Port Moody-Burquitlam – Rick Glumac, BC NDP
Powell River-Sunshine Coast – Randene Neill, BC NDP
Prince George-Mackenzie – Kiel Giddens, Conservative Party
Prince George-North Cariboo – Sheldon Clare, Conservative Party
Prince George-Valemount – Rosalyn Bird, Conservative Party
Richmond-Bridgeport – Teresa Wat, Conservative Party
Richmond Centre – Hon Chan, Conservative Party
Richmond-Queensborough – Steve Kooner, Conservative Party
Richmond-Steveston – Kelly Greene, BC NDP
Saanich North and the Islands – Rob Botterell, BC Green Party
Saanich South- Lana Popham, BC NDP
Salmon Arm-Shuswap – David L. Williams, Conservative Party
Skeena – Claire Rattée, Conservative Party
Surrey City Centre -Amna Shah, BC NDP
Surrey-Cloverdale – Elenore Sturko, Conservative Party
Surrey-Fleetwood – Jagrup Brar, BC NDP
Surrey-Guildford – Garry Begg, BC NDP
Surrey-Newton – Jessie Sunner, BC NDP
Surrey North – Mandeep Dhaliwal, Conservative Party
Surrey-Panorama – Bryan Tepper, Conservative Party
Surrey-Serpentine River – Linda Hepner, Conservative Party
Surrey South – Brent Chapman, Conservative Party
Surrey-White Rock – Trevor Halford, Conservative Party
Vancouver-Fraserview – George Chow, BC NDP
Vancouver-Hastings – Niki Sharma, BC NDP
Vancouver-Kensington – Mable Elmore, BC NDP
Vancouver-Langara -Sunita Dhir, BC NDP
Vancouver-Little Mountain – Christine Boyle, BC NDP
Vancouver-Point Grey – David Eby, BC NDP
Vancouver-Quilchena – Dallas Brodie, Conservative Party
Vancouver-Renfrew – Adrian Dix, BC NDP
Vancouver-South Granville – Brenda Bailey, BC NDP
Vancouver-Strathcona – Joan Phillip, BC NDP
Vancouver-West End – Spencer Chandra Herbert, BC NDP
Vancouver-Yaletown – Terry Yung, BC NDP
Vernon-Lumby – Harwinder Sandhu, BC NDP
Victoria-Beacon Hill – Grace Lore, BC NDP
Victoria-Swan Lake – Nina Krieger, BC NDP
West Kelowna-Peachland – Macklin McCall, Conservative Party
West Vancouver-Capilano – Lynne Block, Conservative Party
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky – Jeremy Valeriote, BC Green Party

Eby will be sworn in as BC’s premier in the coming weeks and will form a cabinet as the 93 MLAs return to Victoria this fall for the 43rd parliament.