The Island’s political map remains solidly orange after Saturday’s provincial election, with preliminary results showing the NDP winning 12 of 15 seats.
The Conservatives nabbed North Island and Courtenay-Comox, the margin in the latter a relatively slim 232 votes.
In Juan de Fuca-Malahat, just 23 votes separated the Conservative and New Democrat candidates, with the NDP leading.
Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who ran previously in Cowichan Valley, lost her bid in Victoria-Beacon Hill, where incumbent NDP Grace Lore held onto her seat.
With Furstenau’s loss, the Greens will be reduced to one seat on the Island, in Saanich North and the Islands.
Counting closed Saturday night with more than 99 per cent of preliminary results reported.
As of 1 a.m., all advance ballot boxes and final voting day ballot boxes had been counted in the Island's 15 ridings.
Sixteen districts across B.C. are continuing to count out-of-district ballots, Elections BC said. Because voters can vote at any voting place in a B.C. election, the count of out-of-district ballots on the preliminary results page will display as “in progress” until all ballot boxes have been reported.
Automatic recounts will take place in electoral districts where the margin between the top two candidates is 100 votes or fewer at the conclusion of initial count. These recounts will take place during final count, scheduled for Oct. 26 to 28.
Courtenay-Comox
The Courtenay-Comox riding, home of B.C.’s tightest election race in 2017, was poised to once again be decided by a handful of votes.
Conservative Brennan Day held a 232-vote lead over NDP incumbent Ronna-Rae Leonard. Day had 39.04 per cent of the vote, while Leonard had 38.35 per cent.
Arzeena Hamir, the Green candidate, came third with about 21 per cent and Independent candidates John Hedican and Devin Howell managed 1.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.
Cowichan Valley
Cowichan Valley is no longer Green.
New Democrat Debra Toporowski, a Cowichan Tribes and North Cowichan councillor, took the riding, formerly the seat of Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who ran in Victoria-Beacon Hill this time around.
Toporowski had about 40 per cent of the vote at press time, beating out Conservative candidate John Koury, who managed 38 per cent, and Green candidate and farmer Cammy Lockwood, who pulled 20 per cent.
Eden Haythornthwaite, an Independent Socialist, managed just one per cent while Independent Jon Coleman pulled less than one per cent of the vote.
Esquimalt-Colwood
Redrawn boundaries created this new riding for the 2024 election, which was looking like a comfortable win for New Democrat Darlene Rotchford, an Esquimalt town councillor.
With all ballot boxes counted, Rotchford had 51 per cent of the vote. Rotchford, who called housing affordability her top concern, beat Conservative John Wilson and Green Camille Currie.
NDP incumbent Mitzi Dean, who represented the old Esquimalt-Metchosin riding, did not run for re-election.
Juan de Fuca-Malahat
The Conservative and NDP candidates were separated by a razor-thin margin in the newly minted riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat on Saturday night.
The NDP’s Dana Lajeunesse (8,942 votes), a Sooke councillor, was just 23 votes ahead of Conservative rival Marina Sapozhnikov (8,919) with just the out-of-district ballots left to be counted. Both were well ahead of Green candidate David Evans (5,345).
Ladysmith-Oceanside
The NDP again held the Ladysmith-Oceanside riding after Stephanie Higginson pulled about 41 per cent of the vote with most polls reporting, defeating Conservative Brett Fee (36 per cent).
Incumbent Adam Walker, the former NDP MLA who was running as an Independent, managed just 16 per cent of the vote. Green candidate Laura Ferreira had about seven per cent.
Ladysmith-Oceanside is a new electoral district, combining parts of the former Parksville-Qualicum and Nanaimo-North Cowichan ridings.
Langford-Highlands
The first MLA to represent Langford-Highlands will be the NDP’s Ravi Parmar.
Parmar, technically the incumbent having won the NDP stronghold Langford-Juan de Fuca byelection in 2023, secured the win in the region’s new riding with 51 per cent of the vote with most ballot boxes counted.
Conservative Mike Harris, who garnered 38 per cent of the vote came second, with Green candidate Erin Cassels finishing third with 11 per cent.
Mid Island-Pacific Rim
Josie Osborne will once again represent the Mid Island-Pacific Rim riding.
The former Tofino mayor, who was first elected as an NDP MLA in the riding in 2020, re-captured her seat with 49 per cent of the vote.
Conservative Adam Hayduk followed with 40 per cent of the vote, while the Greens Ross Reid was third with 12 per cent.
Nanaimo-Gabriola Island
New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson was poised to win the new Nanaimo-Gabriola riding with 52 per cent of vote.
Malcolmson, who was elected in the old Nanaimo riding in 2020, held off Conservative Dale Parker (35 per cent) and Green Shirley Lambrecht (13 per cent).
Nanaimo-Lantzville
The first MLA for the new riding of Nanaimo-Lantzville will be the NDP’s George Anderson, who had a comfortable win with more than half of the vote.
Anderson, a lawyer who once served on Nanaimo council, had about 51 per cent of votes cast to outdistance Conservative Gwen O’Mahony — a former NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope — who had about 40 per cent.
Green candidate Lia Versaevel received about nine per cent.
North Island
North Island has been an enduring piece of NDP ground but went Conservative Saturday night. Almost 700 votes separated Conservative Dr. Anna Kindy (47 per cent of votes cast) and incumbent New Democrat Michele Babchuk (45 per cent) with just out-of-district ballots left to count.
The Greens’ Nic Dedeluk was a distant third at eight per cent.
Oak Bay-Gordon Head
Oak Bay-Gordon Head remains an NDP seat despite the retirement of incumbent Murray Rankin. New Democrat Diana Gibson, who said the high cost of living was her top campaign issue, had 49 per cent of the vote. She was trailed by Green Party deputy leader Dr. Lisa Gunderson (22 per cent) and Conservative candidate Stephen Andrew (29 per cent).
Saanich North and the Islands
In a tight three-way race, the Green Party looked like it would hold onto its seat in Saanich North and the Islands, with Rob Botterell, a retired lawyer and negotiator, taking 36 per cent of the vote.
Not far behind Botterell were New Democrat Sarah Riddell with 32 per cent and Conservative David Busch with 30 per cent. Independent Amy Haysom took nearly two per cent of the vote.
Adam Olsen, who won the seat for the Greens in 2020 with 52 per cent of the vote, did not run for re-election.
Saanich South
New Democrat Lana Popham comfortably kept her seat to win a fifth term in office. Popham, first elected in 2009, had nearly 50 per cent of the vote, beating Conservative Adam Kubel (33 per cent) and the Green Party’s Ned Taylor (18 per cent).
Popham has served as minister of agriculture and minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport.
Victoria-Beacon Hill
New Democrat incumbent Grace Lore hung onto Victoria-Beacon Hill, taking a commanding lead of about 3,700 votes over her challengers.
That gave her about 47 per cent of the vote, to Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau’s 34 per cent and Conservative Tim Thielmann’s 19 per cent.
Victoria-Swan Lake
The long-time NDP stronghold of Victoria-Swan Lake stayed true to the party with Nina Krieger cruising to a win with close to 56 per cent of the vote on Saturday.
Transportation Minister Rob Fleming had been the riding’s MLA since it was established in 2009.
Christina Winter of the Green Party had about 23 per cent of the vote with most ballot boxes counted on Saturday. Conservative candidate Tim Taylor had about 20 per cent, and Communist candidate Robert Crooks, the party’s provincial organizer, had less than one per cent.
— With files from Jeff Bell, Andrew Duffy and Roxanne Egan-Elliott
