BC election final count shifts seat totals as three ridings remain within recount range

The BC election final count has updated the province's seat totals. As of November 6, 2026 at 8:07 pm Pacific, Elections BC shows the Conservative Party of BC leading in 64 of 93 electoral districts, the BC NDP in 27, and the BC Green Party in 2. All 93 districts are still marked "In Progress" on Elections BC's results page.

On election night, the initial count put the Conservatives at 63 districts and the NDP at 28. One seat shifted in each direction as mail-in, absentee and assisted telephone ballots were counted.

What the final count covers

The final count began on November 6 at 8:00 a.m. and covers ballots that were not counted on election night: vote-by-mail ballots, assisted telephone voting ballots, and absentee ballots cast at special voting opportunities or on final voting day. Elections BC said before the count started that 150,000 certification envelopes containing ballots would be reviewed. Before any envelope is opened, it is checked against the voters list to confirm the voter is eligible and voted only once.

Elections BC updated results every 30 minutes during the November 6 counting day. The count will conclude no later than November 10, 2026.

What changed from election night

Ladysmith-Oceanside flipped. On election night, NDP candidate Stephanie Higginson held a narrow lead over Conservative Kris McNichol. By November 6, that result reversed briefly with McNichol ahead, then reversed again: as of 8:07 pm, Higginson leads McNichol by 29 votes, 14,012 to 13,983, according to Elections BC's results page.

Burnaby South-Metrotown also flipped. Conservative David Xie leads NDP incumbent Paul Choi by 77 votes, 6,560 to 6,483. On election night, Choi held a narrow lead. At the start of the final count on November 6, the riding showed a 70-vote NDP lead, then shifted to Conservative as more ballots were added.

The net result: one seat from the NDP column moved to the Conservative column.

Three ridings within mandatory recount range

Three electoral districts have margins under 100 votes in the Elections BC count as of November 6:

Kelowna Centre: Conservative incumbent Kristina Loewen leads NDP candidate Loyal Wooldridge by 44 votes, 11,687 to 11,643. Castanet reported on November 6 that at 5 p.m., Loewen held a 45-vote lead, narrowed from the 132-vote lead she held on election night. About 1,922 ballots had been counted in Kelowna Centre by 5 p.m. that day, Castanet reported. The same two candidates contested this Kelowna Centre district in 2024, when a judicial recount narrowed the final margin to 40 votes.

Wooldridge said before the count started that he was not in the room during counting but had volunteer scrutineers there. "We've been here before, so I'm actually pretty chill about it all," he said. Loewen said she respects the final-count process. "Final count is Elections BC's job, and I respect the process and whatever result it produces," she said.

Ladysmith-Oceanside: Higginson leads McNichol by 29 votes at the November 6 update. The count in this Ladysmith-Oceanside district has moved in both directions since election night. Elections BC confirmed before the count began that Ladysmith-Oceanside would face a mandatory recount once the final count closes, because the margin was already below 100 votes.

Burnaby South-Metrotown: Xie leads Choi by 77 votes. Elections BC similarly confirmed a mandatory recount for this Burnaby South-Metrotown district before the count opened on November 6.

Mandatory recounts apply in ridings where the margin is fewer than 100 votes at the conclusion of the final count. Those recounts are conducted by the district electoral officer. The final count in each riding may still change before it closes. As of the November 6 update, Kelowna Centre is not on Elections BC's confirmed mandatory-recount list but is within the threshold.

Province-wide vote totals

Elections BC's results page as of November 6, 8:07 pm shows 1,827,869 valid ballots counted so far in the final count, with rejected ballots listed separately for each district.

By party:

• Conservative Party of BC: 909,153 votes, 47.97%
• BC NDP: 707,938 votes, 37.35%
• BC Green Party: 210,778 votes, 11.12%

On election night, the initial count showed the Conservative Party with 862,317 votes and the NDP with 670,602. The larger totals in the final count reflect the addition of mail-in, absentee and assisted telephone ballots across all 93 districts.

The preliminary voter turnout stands at 50.84%, based on 3,738,182 registered voters as of October 14, 2026, according to Elections BC's results page.

What comes next

Elections BC has said the final count will conclude no later than November 10, 2026. Once it closes, the total vote count and district-by-district results will be final. Any riding finishing under 100 votes will then go to a mandatory recount conducted by the district electoral officer.

After the mandatory recounts are complete, any candidate or voter may apply to the BC Supreme Court for a judicial recount within six days of the final count closing. A judicial recount requires showing grounds such as an error in ballot accounting.

The full district-by-district results are on Elections BC's results page, updated as counting continues. The voche.me results page at /bc/provincial-2026/ links each district to its Elections BC page.

Residents can follow the count at results.elections.bc.ca, which Elections BC updates as ballots are added.