The CBC reports on last night’s provincial election in British Columbia that, “By midnight Tuesday, the Liberals were ahead in 47 ridings, having been elected in 45. The NDP led in 38 ridings, with New Democrats declared elected in 34 of those. The polls closed at 8 p.m. PT.”
43 seats are needed to form a majority government there.
“The results in Tuesday’s B.C. election show Campbell’s Liberals leading with 45.7 per cent of the popular vote, ahead of Carole James’s NDP at 42.2 per cent.”
“The Green party managed to capture 8.2 per cent of the popular vote, but failed to win a single seat, including leader Jane Sterk, who was defeated in her riding of Esquimalt-Royal Roads.”
“Voter turnout was 52 per cent, down about eight per cent from the 2005 general election.”
Additionally, “Less than 40 per cent of voters supported the proposed BC-STV system in the referendum on electoral reform. The referendum required more than 60 per cent support for the proposed system to be adopted.”
And finally, “A key challenge for (NDP leader Carole) James was her decision to oppose the Campbell government’s carbon tax, which led many prominent environmentalists, including David Suzuki, to speak out against her. On the other hand, many environmentalists supported her promise to put a moratorium on the many run-of-river private power projects begun under the Liberals.”
The full article is at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/bcvotes2009/story/2009/05/12/bc-election-results-main-story.html
