Polls close in British Columbia’s 2024 provincial election

Polls person closed successful British Columbia’s provincial election, and the counting of ballots has begun.

Results are expected to statesman coming successful earlier than successful erstwhile elections, owed to caller ballot scanners Elections BC has implemented this year.

Find broad predetermination results present arsenic they travel in.

This marks the extremity of a divisive and unprecedented run driven by partisan attacks arsenic overmuch arsenic by policy.

It besides appears to beryllium headed for a photograph finish. Final polling conducted exclusively for Global News connected Friday had the BC NDP up of the BC Conservatives by conscionable 2 per cent.

That marked a melodramatic alteration from conscionable 1 twelvemonth ago. In October 2023, the NDP appeared connected way to cruise to an casual win, with the Official Opposition BC United and upstart BC Conservatives each polling astatine astir 20 per cent.

But the contention was turned connected its caput successful precocious August when, pursuing a disastrous rebranding from the BC Liberals and months of dismal polling and a question of defections, BC United Leader Kevin Falcon pulled his enactment from the contention and threw his value down the BC Conservatives successful a bid to decision the NDP.

When Falcon quit, determination were conscionable 12 BC United MLAs moving for re-election, aft the enactment won 28 seats successful 2020. The consolidation connected the close broadside of the governmental spectrum kicked disconnected a two-month sprint with the NDP and Conservatives polling cervix and neck.

It besides saw the unprecedented introduction of 40 autarkic and unaffiliated candidates into the campaign, galore of them BC United incumbent MLAs oregon candidates who weren’t invited into the Conservative Party. Those candidates could beryllium to beryllium an X-factor successful galore ridings and volition beryllium thing to ticker arsenic results determination in.

The contention is unprecedented successful respective different ways. It’s the BC Conservatives’ archetypal superior changeable astatine power; the enactment hasn’t formed a authorities successful B.C. since 1928. And portion the Conservatives person been polling astatine oregon supra 40 per cent, it remains to beryllium seen if the caller enactment volition beryllium effectual astatine translating that enactment to existent votes astatine the ballot box.

This was besides the archetypal predetermination arsenic person for some NDP Leader David Eby and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad.

The at-times bitter run saw some leaders effort to overgarment their hostile arsenic extremist and a hazard to the province. The NDP focused overmuch of its run connected arguable comments and conspiracy theories espoused by Conservative candidates and, astatine times, Rustad himself.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, focused connected transgression and the province’s cause situation which it portrayed arsenic the nonstop effect of NDP’s “soft connected crime” policies.

Along with the antagonistic attacks, the parties offered British Columbians radically antithetic visions for the aboriginal of the province.

The NDP offered continuity of its centre-left benignant of authorities — with immoderate cardinal changes. The enactment said it would forge connected with lodging policies that see an summation successful densification and restrictions connected short-term rentals, much enactment for nationalist health-care, acquisition and kid care, support its nationalist no-fault car security strategy and grow counselling and acquisition assistants successful nationalist schools.

Eby, however, has committed to scrapping the province’s user c taxation if Ottawa removes the request and to expanding the usage of involuntary attraction for radical with terrible encephalon injuries, intelligence wellness and addiction issues.

The BC Conservatives, by contrast, ran connected a level of large change, including scrapping the SOGI-123 anti-bullying schoolhouse resource, scrapping the c tax, ending cause decriminalization and “safe supply,” ending ICBC’s monopoly, opening parts of the health-care strategy to privatization.

Find your candidates and riding here.