Two of three recounts in British Columbia’s 2024 provincial election have been completed, with no change in standings in either riding.

Amna Shah of the BC NDP remains in the lead in downtown Surrey, with 6,618 votes to 6,443 votes for her BC Conservative opponent Zeeshan Wahla, according to results published Sunday evening.

Shah was ahead by just 95 votes in the initial count, but the latest numbers include additional assisted absentee and telephone ballots, which were tallied over the weekend as part of Elections BC’s final tally .

With these ballots included, Shah’s lead grew to 175 votes.

A partial recount in Kelowna Center also concluded Sunday, with the latest results showing Conservative candidate Kristina Loewen in the lead with 10,948 votes to NDP candidate Loyal Wooldridge’s 10,880 votes.

The third recount, in the riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat on Vancouver Island, is not expected to be completed until Monday.

The postal vote is poor for the NDP

Elections BC began the final count on Saturday, with approximately 65,000 additional absentee, assisted telephone and mail-in ballots cast across the province’s 93 ridings.

The counting of absentee and assisted telephone ballots concluded Sunday, with the results strongly supportive of David Eby’s outgoing NDPthus increasing the party’s chances of obtaining a third term.

There are still approximately 21,500 postal ballots this will not be counted until Monday, including 175 in Surrey city centre.

There is also the possibility of a mandatory judicial recount, conducted by a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, if a candidate’s lead in the final count is less than one-five-hundredth of the total votes. votes cast in this constituency.

The recounts in downtown Surrey and Juan de Fuca-Malahat were triggered because there were fewer than 100 votes between the leading candidates in the two ridings after the initial count.

The NDP’s Dana Lajeunesse defeated conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov in Juan de Fuca-Malahat by just 23 votes after this count, although mail-in ballots cast over the weekend increased her lead to 106.

Elections BC approved the partial recount in Kelowna Center due to a “vote transcription error” that was identified between a vote count and a tabulation tape, the agency said in a news release this week.

“This discrepancy is likely due to an error by election officials,” the statement said. “Although the tabulator in question passed all tests and produced accurate results, a recount of the ballots counted by this tabulator will be conducted due to a ballot counting error.”

Loewen led the Loyal Wooldridge New Democratic Party by 148 votes in the initial count, but saw his lead narrowed to 68 votes in the latest results released Sunday evening. There is 228 postal ballots waiting in this constituency.

Results of the latest recount will be available Monday

For the final step in the final vote count, Elections BC will post hourly updates on the counting of mail-in ballots starting at 9 a.m. Monday.

Only once this stage is complete will the final results be announced – more than a week after election night, which ended without a clear idea of ​​who will form the province’s next government.

As of Sunday evening, party positions remained the same as a week ago, with the NDP leading in 46 ridings, the Conservatives leading in 45 and the BC Greens in two.

Forty-seven seats are required for a majority, so a gain of one seat for the NDP or two seats for the Conservatives in the final count could give that party the ability to form a government without help from MPs. another party.

If the number of constituencies remains unchanged, the Greens will hold the balance of power in a minority legislature, with Eby or Rustad needing the support of Green MPs to become prime minister.

With files from Ian Holliday of CTV News Vancouver