VICTORIA, British Columbia (LifeSiteNews) –– Election officials in the province of British Columbia now say there are 65,000 ballots yet to be counted, up from 45,000 following last Saturday’s election that has the Conservative Party and the reigning New Democratic Party in a virtual tie.
In an election count update Thursday, Elections B.C. says during its “screening process” it now estimates that “approximately 65,000 ballots will be counted as part of final count,” which is significantly more than the original 45,000 estimate.
According to Elections B.C., the “final count process for B.C.’s provincial election is scheduled to begin on October 26 and will conclude on October 28.”
It is estimated that on October 27, the final mail-in- ballot counts will be complete. There are recounts underway in two ridings as well, which were remarkably close between the NDP and Conservatives.
Elections B.C. says the “final count” will involve three distinct processes, “counting mail-in ballots, counting absentee ballots, and recounts of ballots counted on election night.”
Final results will be made available on its social media channels and website.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, initial counts show the B.C. Conservatives under leader John Rustad with 45 seats, while the ruling NDP under Premier David Eby have 46 seats. A party needs 47 seats to form a majority government in the province. The Green Party appears to have won 2 seats, meaning should the seat count remain as is, the distant third party will effectively hold the balance of power.
Rustad won his seat easily, beating out his NDP rival with 68 percent of the vote. His win was the first time since 1978 that a Conservative has won a seat in the B.C. legislature.
It hasn’t been since 1991, the last year B.C. was ruled by the Social Credit Party under pro-life Premier Bill Vander Zalm, that the province has been under the control of parties other than the NDP or Liberals.
B.C.’s Conservative Party shot up in popularity after the former Liberal Party of the province, under its new name B.C. United, lagged in the polls. Then B.C. United decided shortly before the election to pull all its candidates and throw its support behind the Conservatives.
Rustad, a former Liberal MLA, also gained popularity for promising to restore order and oppose the woke policies popularized under the NDP.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Rustad, just days before the election, condemned sexually explicit material in school libraries and indicated that he would remove them if elected.
Rustad has also come out in opposition to the use of often-sterilizing puberty blockers for gender-confused children and has condemned SOGI 123, a nationwide program pushing LGBT ideology in schools under the label of “inclusivity.”
At the same time, Rustad has an upsetting record for conservatives when it comes to important life and family issues, garnering an “F” rating by Campaign Life Coalition over his support for abortion and the continued public funding of the deadly practice.