VICTORIA — British Columbia’s New Democrats have won a majority of seats after the final vote count in the provincial election.

But Elections BC says two of the seats, Kelowna Center and Surrey-Guildford, are so close that there will be an automatic judicial recount before the standings for the next Parliament are confirmed.

A majority government requires 47 seats out of the 93 seats in the British Columbia legislature and that’s exactly what the NDP and Premier David Eby got, ahead of John Rustad’s Conservatives in British Columbia with 44. seats. The Greens won two seats.

But in Kelowna Centre, the difference between the BC Conservatives and the NDP was 38 votes and in Surrey-Guildford the difference was 27, making the recount automatic.

Eby said he met with the lieutenant governor. Janet Austin earlier Monday and asked him to form the next government.

“After a close and hard-fought campaign, now is the time to come together to act for the people,” Eby said in a statement. “We will work hard every day to earn the trust you place in us.”

Eby has planned a press conference for Tuesday at the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

It took nine days to arrive at Monday’s result. Election officials spent the weekend and Monday counting 43,000 mail-in ballots and 22,000 mail-in ballots. Election day was October 19.

This NDP victory is the first time in British Columbia history that the New Democrats have won three consecutive elections.

NDP House Leader Ravi Kahlon said he was “happy to see the numbers coming in and I’m glad to see we can move forward.”

“It’s still going to take a lot of cooperation within the legislature,” he said in an interview. “We will continue to reach out to the Greens to find ways to work with them.”

Kahlon said people were telling him, “We don’t want another election, what we want is for you to make it happen.”

Kahlon suggested the NDP was considering finding a president from among its ranks, despite his party’s tight position.

“We have good people who can do the job,” he said.

It was too early to say when the legislature would be dismissed, he said, adding that one of the first items on the agenda would be the formation of a new cabinet.

Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau said in a statement that it appears the parties will need to work together for the legislature to function effectively.

She said earlier that the two Green MPs elected to the Legislative Assembly could play a central role in the functioning of the government.

Congratulatory messages arrived Monday evening from the British Columbia Federation of Labor and the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

“This victory marks an important step toward deeper reconciliation, respect for Indigenous rights and a shared future based on partnership and commitment to address the climate emergency,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said in a statement. .

Rustad was not immediately available for comment Monday.

Aisha Estey, president of the British Columbia Conservative Party, said she spent the weekend in a warehouse monitoring the counting of mail-in ballots.

In a social media post, she said: “Elections BC staff have worked tirelessly and done their best within the legislation that governs their work. »

“Would we have liked mail-ins to be counted closer to (election day)? Of course,” she added. “But I haven’t seen anything that worries me.”

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press