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VICTORIA — British Columbians await the final result of last week’s close provincial election, with several ridings that could determine the next government still in play.

Election BC says the counting of more than 66,000 mail-in ballots begins today and is expected to be completed Sunday evening.

At the same time, the electoral authority will also carry out a complete recount starting on Sunday in two hotly contested constituencies: Juan de Fuca-Malahat and downtown Surrey – where the margin of victory in the initial count was less than 100 votes.

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There will also be a partial hand recount in Kelowna Center due to a transcription error involving a tabulator used in the riding.

The final count will then be completed on Monday with the counting of all remaining mail-in ballots, with results updated hourly on the Election BC website that day.

The stakes in the recount are high: after the initial count, the NDP leads with 46 seats, the Conservatives with 45 seats and the Greens with two, with nine ridings too close to call (six led by the Conservatives and three by the NPD). .

Both Juan de Fuca-Malahat and Surrey City Center are currently led by NDP candidates, but the former’s margin in the initial count is only 23 votes, while the latter’s is 93 votes.

There are 681 ballots left to count in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and 476 in downtown Surrey.

The British Columbia Conservatives can win the narrowest majority of 47 seats by flipping both seats in the final count and maintaining their lead in all the ridings they currently hold.

The NDP, meanwhile, can form a minority government with the Greens if they maintain their leads in Juan de Fuca-Malahat and downtown Surrey while retaining all of their seats won in the initial count.

The Greens can technically also form a minority government with the Conservatives, but there is a significant ideological divide between the two parties.

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