Two Surrey ridings – one currently NDP and the other Conservative – could still change hands this weekend as Elections BC heads into the final tally of B.C.’s Oct. 19 election.

The final tally will include mail-in and mail-in ballots, as well as a recount of votes cast on election night.

With the provincial race featuring 46 NDP MPs, 45 Conservatives and two Greens, this weekend’s final tally will determine whether one party secured the 47 seats needed to form a majority government, or whether a coalition or deal with the Greens will be needed for one or the other. David Eby of the NDP or John Rustad of the Conservatives will become the next prime ministers.

Yesterday (Friday, October 25), Elections BC announced the number of certification envelopes it would open as part of the final count, including absentee and assisted telephone votes, as well as special and absentee ballots . These ballots total 66,074 across British Columbia’s 93 electoral districts.

In two Surrey ridings, remaining ballots could impact the outcome of tight races – with 476 votes to be counted in Surrey-City Center and another 634 in Surrey-Guildford.

In Surrey-City Centre, the BC NDP’s Amna Shah currently leads the Conservatives’ Zeeshan Wahla by less than 100 votes (93, as currently shown on the Elections BC results website). The constituency is already set for an automatic recount, which will take place tomorrow (Sunday October 27) from 1 p.m.

The recount includes all ballots for the precinct that were counted on election night as well as ballots cast by voters on Election Day in other precincts. All ballots will be counted manually.

The other close race to watch in today’s final tally is Surrey-Guildford, where NDP incumbent Garry Begg lost to his Conservative challenger Honveer Singh Randhawa by a margin that currently stands at 103 votes — narrowly missing the threshold for an automatic recount. Elections BC rejected Begg’s request for a recount of the riding before the final count weekend.

In two other Surrey ridings, both won by the Conservatives, the number of votes remaining to be counted is greater than the leading candidate’s margin of victory – but in both cases a change is unlikely given the gap voices.

One of them is Surrey-Panorama, where Conservative Bryan Tepper defeated NDP incumbent Jinny Sims by 354 votes. In this constituency, there are 502 ballots remaining to be counted. The other is Surrey-Serpentine River, where Conservative Linda Hepner recorded a 510-vote victory over the NDP’s Baltej Singh Dhillon, with 542 votes remaining to be counted.

In Surrey’s six remaining constituencies, the final tally will have no impact on the outcome, as the number of votes remaining to be counted is less than the margin of victory. These are :

• Surrey South: Conservative Brian Chapman up 3,846 votes, with 604 votes left to count
• Surrey North: Conservative Mandeep Dhaliwal up 1,260 votes, with 493 to count
• Surrey-Cloverdale: Conservative Elenore Sturko up 676 votes, with 638 to count
• Surrey-White Rock: Conservative Trevor Halford up 1,098 votes, with 854 to count
• Surrey-Newton: NDP Jessie Sunner up 1,120 votes, with 455 to count
• Surrey-Fleetwood: NDP Jagrup Brar up 582 votes, with 549 to count

(Elections BC notes that the number of absentee and mail-in ballots counted may still vary slightly, as each certification envelope must be reviewed and verified. Certification envelopes that contain no ballots or more than one ballot marked votes will not be counted.)

Elections BC says electoral districts will be counted one at a time today, depending on how close the race is. A first update is expected at 1 p.m.; Black Press Media continues to monitor and will be updated as issues become available.

Final tallies will be completed by October 28.

More to come.