Note: This blog is now closed. Read on for a recap of the 2026 B.C. provincial election.

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David Eby’s snap election has turned into a snap rejection, as a Conservative wave swept B.C. in Saturday’s provincial election.

B.C. Election Results Recap: Conservative wave sweeps B.C. | Lorne Doerkson vows to get B.C. ‘back on track’ | David Eby resigns as NDP leader Back to video

As of 12:32 a.m. Sunday and 99.45 per cent of ballot boxes reporting, the B.C. Conservatives were poised to form a supermajority government with 64 seats in legislature.

That left the B.C. NDP suffering a major setback, losing nearly half their ridings and finishing with just 27 seats, while the B.C. Greens maintained their two seats.

Read through our recap of the day’s events, results as they came in, and dispatches from ridings throughout the region.

• Read all of our recent B.C. provincial election coverage here

SEAT TRACKER: How many seats has each party won?

Saturday, Oct. 24

12:40 a.m.: Postmedia News thanks readers for joining us on election night

Thank you to our readers for following along as we covered the 2026 B.C. provincial election on Oct. 24.

Catch up on our coverage right here on this page and be sure to check our website on Sunday as we jump back into election analysis once the excitement of election night has settled.

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11:58 p.m.: Conservative wave sweeps B.C. as David Eby’s snap election call backfires

The B.C. Conservative party, which just a month ago was wracked with infighting and looked on the verge of collapse, has won a supermajority government, toppling a nine-year NDP regime that called a snap election in an effort to take advantage of their opponent’s chaos.

Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson, who accepted the party reins while in Amsterdam airport on his way back from a holiday in South Africa, will now lead the first government formed by his party in almost 100 years.

As of Saturday night at 11 p.m., the Conservatives had won 55 ridings and were in the lead in 9 more, decimating the NDP in Surrey, Delta, and Richmond, as well as in historic centre-right strongholds in the north and Interior of the province.

The result was hard to imagine back in mid-September when then-leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned after overseeing the dismantling of party and caucus staff.

11:49 p.m.: Vaughn Palmer: NDP knives were out for David Eby before the last vote was cast

NDP Leader David Eby was asked again and again during the campaign “why are we having this election?”

It was the No. 1 question of Election 2026, as Eby himself admitted. And he never had a good answer.

11:32 p.m.: Conservatives gain one seat on the North Shore as well as ridings in Okanagan, Interior and Northern B.C.

The Conservatives managed to wrestle one North Shore riding away from the NDP this election, while the other four ridings remained with their incumbent parties.

Even so, there were major upheavals in their margins of victory as voters across the province drastically changed the way they voted from two years ago.

Read more about ridings in North Vancouver and West Vancouver here.

Outside of Metro Vancouver, the Conservatives dominated the Okanagan, the Interior and Northern B.C.

The party has won or is leading in 22 of 25 seats, including in Vernon-Lumby and Penticton-Summerland, which the NDP won last election.

The NDP have a lead in Kootenay-Monashee and won in North Coast-Haida Gwaii and Kootenay Central, both of which the party won in 2024.

Read more about ridings in the Okanagan, Interior and Northern B.C. here.

-Lori Culbert, Gordon Hoekstra

11:19 p.m.: Conservatives gain ground on Vancouver Island, with close races remaining

Vancouver Island’s traditional NDP stronghold has been shaken, with the B.C. Conservatives winning new seats in a region that has long been a key base of support for the NDP, contributing to the first B.C. Conservative party victory in nearly a century.

The Conservatives retained one of the two seats they won in 2024 and captured two more, flipping Saanich South, a riding that has historically favoured the NDP, and Ladysmith-Oceanside.

The gains on Vancouver Island reflect a broader appetite for change across the province, said political scientist Daniel Westlake of Vancouver Island University.

“It’s not a Vancouver Island story. It’s an across-the-board story,” he said of the Conservative wins on the Island.

“Last weekend showed it’s a bad time to be an incumbent,” said Westlake, referring to recent municipal elections in which many incumbents were defeated.

“When you have concerns over cost of living, concerns over public safety, concerns over housing affordability, voters look to vote out who is in office because they blame who is in office.”

Looking at the provincewide results — with the Conservatives winning 64 seats, the NDP 27 and the Greens two — Westlake said he was surprised that more ridings hadn’t gone Conservative.

The NDP did manage to win Courtenay-Comox, where challenger Will Cole-Hamilton, a two-term Courtenay councillor, defeated Conservative incumbent Brennan Day. In 2024, Day won the riding by just 93 votes or two-tenths of a percentage point.

-Cheryl Chan

On a rough night for the B.C. NDP, the party won seven of 12 ridings in the City of Vancouver.

The NDP lost three Vancouver ridings this year that the party won in 2024: Vancouver-Langara, Vancouver-Fraserview, and Vancouver-Yaletown. The only Vancouver riding that went Conservative in 2024, Vancouver-Quilchena, was won by the Conservatives again.

Vancouver-Renfrew MLA Adrian Dix was re-elected in his riding for a seventh time on Saturday, but said it was a “very, very hard night” for his party.

Asked if it was a mistake to call the snap election, Dix replied: “Obviously.”

“Clearly, given the result, it was a mistake to call the election,” Dix said at the B.C. NDP’s election-night event at a hotel in downtown Vancouver. Dix said he gives David Eby, who resigned the party leadership Saturday, “great credit” for acknowledging the mistake and taking responsibility.

“If you know David Eby, you know that he takes responsibility,” Dix said. “He always has.”

Meanwhile, Surrey voters chose change provincially, with the Conservative party winning all 10 ridings, with comfortable leads in most.

Some of the NDP candidates took to the stage in a solemn room just after 10 p.m. to accept defeat and thank supporters.

“There is polling, and then there is the real poll. The real poll happened tonight,” said Jinny Sims, candidate for Panorama who lost to the incumbent Conservative Bryan Tepper.

“The voters have decided, and we must respect the decision of the voters because we respect democracy. … I make a commitment tonight to rebuild our NDP, to rebuild so that we can fight for a more just and inclusive Surrey and British Columbia.”

Longtime MLA Jagrup Brar, who has lost his Fleetwood seat after 14 years, also spoke to the crowd, saying that he is at least happy some NDP candidates have seen success to hold the new Conservative government accountable.

“I stood up at every occasion with the people of Surrey and I will continue the job as an independent and as a member of the society moving forward,” Brar said.

-Dan Fumano, Sobia Moman, Derrick Penner

10:13 p.m.: Emily Lowan vows to be a voice for the people

Green party Leader Emily Lowan spoke to supporters on Saturday night, reiterating her commitment to being a voice for the people in legislature.

“We ran this campaign on a simple idea: government is supposed to make people’s lives better. That’s why we fought for universal child care, a community health centre in every riding, and affordable housing for all,” she said.

“It’s why we stood up for a B.C. that leads on climate and builds the good green jobs that we so desperately need for our future, and it’s why we never stopped fighting for a province where every everyone belongs, where Indigenous rights are upheld and deeply respected.

“Those people deserve a voice in the legislature, and that is exactly what we’re here to deliver.”

Lowan was elected Saturday evening in her riding of Saanich North and the Islands, and will join fellow Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky in legislature.

-Stephanie Ip

9:57 p.m.: Richmond, Delta and Burnaby ridings turn blue

If the NDP had any hope of forming a majority government in the 2026 election, it had to hold onto the ridings it won in 2024.

But the two seats it picked up in Delta North and Richmond Steveston were very much in play going into Saturday night’s vote.

In early returns the Conservatives led in both, as well as in the other four Delta and Richmond ridings.

The two NDP cabinet ministers who won in Delta and Richmond last time — Ravi Kahlon and Kelly Greene — both elected not to run when Premier David Eby called a snap election.

Meanwhile, the NDP stronghold in and around Burnaby was on its way to being breached by the blue Conservative tide that swept the province on election night, with former NDP cabinet minister Anne Kang, who handily won Burnaby Centre in 2024, among the candidates trailing in early results.

And another cabinet minister, Janet Routledge, was trailing Conservative Simon Chandler in neighbouring Burnaby North by a slim one percentage point in early results.

It’s been almost 50 years that Tories last elected an MLA in Burnaby, in 1978, but the party regained support during the last election in 2024 as B.C. United (formerly the B.C. Liberals) faded from the political spectrum.

-John Mackie, Susan Lazaruk

9:46 p.m.: Lorne Doerkson vows to get B.C. ‘back on track’

B.C. Conservative Leader and premier designate Lorne Doerkson vowed to get B.C. back on track.

“B.C. is blue,” Doerkson exclaimed to an excited crowd at the Rocky Mountaineer Station in Vancouver on Saturday evening, as he began his celebratory speech.

“What a night this is. Man, I am out of breath. I am so excited. Together, we seize this opportunity, you guys. And together, we voted for a better British Columbia. And from here, I will do everything in my power to get British Columbia back on track,” he said.

He went on to introduce his family and thank volunteers, promising to work as hard as his campaign workers did on the campaign trail. He also recognized David Eby for his time spent serving B.C.

“Public life asks a lot of us all. It asks a lot of a person and a lot of their family, and he has given to this province for years of both of those things. So thank you very much, David Eby,” he said.

“I also want to recognize Emily Lowan and congratulate her on an incredible campaign. British Columbians can be grateful for her passion, all that she’s done to inspire thousands of young British Columbians to get involved. So thank you, Emily.”

-Stephanie Ip

9:30 p.m.: David Eby resigns as NDP leader as Conservatives poised to form majority

David Eby has resigned as the leader of the NDP.

“It has been the honour of my life to serve as premier of British Columbia, to serve as MLA, to work with all of you,” he shared with supporters on Saturday evening at the B.C. NDP election night event.

An early Conservative lead quickly become a Conservative majority, with 64 ridings projected to turn blue following the snap election called by Eby.

He appeared subdued on stage at the NDP election night event, addressing supporters and noting that he had already spoken to B.C. Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson.

“I wished him the best, and quite sincerely. This is an important time, this is a critical time for our province and for our country,” he said. “And I hope for all British Columbians that he protects British Columbians, looks after us, and looks after the province.

“The people of British Columbia have asked us to be the official Opposition, which is obviously not the result that any of us wanted.”

Eby also acknowledged a number of NDP MLAs who did not win re-election on Saturday.

“Some of the hardest working MLAs I know for their communities were not elected tonight,” he said. “It breaks my heart and I accept full responsibility for that outcome.”

After highlighting some of the projects that had been built or were started under the NDP government — including the new St. Paul’s hospital, the Sen̓áḵw rental housing development, and the Broadway Subway line — Eby said it had been “the honour of my life” to serve as premier of British Columbia.

Eby concluded by offering his resignation as leader of the B.C. NDP.

“This is obviously something I do with a very heavy heart. But it is time for new leadership within our party,” he said, adding that the “silver lining” was the ability to spend more time with his young family.

“My family has paid a very significant cost for this work, and I am keen to spend some time with my kids, with my wife, with our friends, and not worry if someone is videotaping me while I am singing karaoke,” he said.

“Thank you, friends, for everything. I I hope you’re able to celebrate some victories tonight.”

-Stephanie Ip

9:10 p.m.: Conservatives start the celebration early

It’s a buzzy crowd at the Rocky Mountaineer Station, according to reporter Joanne Lee-Young, who is stationed at the Conservative party’s election night event at Rocky Mountaineer Station in east Vancouver as results were being counted.

While there was no music playing as of 9:10 p.m., there were lots of yelps of joy, with wine flowing inside and food trucks stationed outside. Former premier Gordon Campbell and developer Ryan Beedie were among those populating the large room.

The venue is set for a big party tonight, with early projections predicting a 63-seat Conservative majority.

-Joanne Lee-Young

9:06 p.m.: Surrey showing strong Conservative showings

The energy is quiet and solemn at the NDP’s election night party in Surrey, as the Conservative party is so far leading in all 10 Surrey ridings.

Typically strong NDP ridings are so far seeing Conservatives leading, including in Guildford, Fleetwood, City Centre and Newton, while typical Conservative ridings, like South and Surrey-White Rock, are remaining blue so far.

Guildford was a very tight race two years ago, with the riding going with the NDP by a difference of only 22 votes. This time around, with three of six advance voting ballots reporting, the NDP have 1,384 votes to the Conservatives’ 2,076. But it is still early in the race, with few ballots reporting in Surrey.

-Derrick Penner, Sobia Moman

8:55 p.m.: Global, CTV both projecting a Conservative majority

Just before 9 p.m., both Global News and CTV have called a Conservative majority, with 63 seats projected to turn blue.

8:45 p.m.: Vancouver Island ridings showing tight races

Early results are showing tight races in several Vancouver Island ridings.

In Ladysmith-Oceanside, NDP incumbent Stephanie Higginson and Conservative challenger Kris McNichol are separated by less than a percentage point, while in Nanaimo-Lantzville, NDP candidate George Anderson is ahead of Conservative Kelsey Pringle by about 350 votes.

In Saanich South, considered traditionally NDP territory, Conservative Cathie Ounsted is leading the NDP’s Richard Zussman by a five-percentage point margin, with Green candidate Lisa Lapointe trailing in third.

Overall in B.C., the Conservatives have taken an early lead in 71 ridings, compared to 19 where the NDP are ahead.

The results are still very early, however, and could change significantly as more ballots are counted.

With about 300,000 votes counted province wide, the Conservatives have 51 per cent of the popular vote to 36.3 per cent for the NDP and 9.3 per cent for the Greens.

Over in Vancouver at the B.C. NDP election night event, Vancouver-Little Mountain NDP MLA Christine Boyle delivers a welcome message, but it’s a sparse crowd; journalists are still outnumbering guests at this point.

A little while later, Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” could be heard blaring from speakers.

-Cheryl Chan, Harold Munro, Dan Fumano

8:32 p.m.: Early results show a Conservative lead

As the first ballots were counted in Langley-Walnut Grove on Saturday night, Conservative incumbent Misty Van Popta had a lead over the NDP’s Holly Isaac and a small cheer went up at Camp Beer craft brewery where her supporters were gathered.

The riding is one of eight the Conservatives hope to hold onto in the Fraser Valley.

The first ballots trickling in in Abbotsford and Chilliwack also showed Conservative incumbents with an early lead.

Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack are among B.C.’s largest cities by land area, but voters are feeling squeezed. Groceries and gasoline are expensive, traffic is terrible and it’s hard to find a doctor.

That discontent helped Conservatives take back several seats from the NDP in the 2024 provincial election. The blue wave wasn’t enough to carry the party to power, but voters sent eight Tory MLAs to Victoria.

Early results in Maple Ridge also show a Conservative lead, with Conservative incumbent Lawrence Mok leading in Maple Ridge East, while Conservative candidate Doug Morneau was leading over NDP incumbent Lisa Beare in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows. In the 2024 election, Beare won with a comfortable lead over the Tories.

Over in Surrey, the Conservative party is also leading in all Surrey ridings, according to preliminary results.

Typically strong NDP ridings are so far seeing Conservatives leading, including in Guildford, Fleetwood, City Centre and Newton, while typical Conservative ridings, like South and Surrey-White Rock, are remaining blue so far.

The NDP election party event is also quiet, with supporters milling around and anxiously watching a CTV news broadcast showing coverage of the results. It is a stark contrast to the Conservative watch party nearby.

-Glenda Luymes, Alec Lazenby, Tiffany Crawford, Sobia Moman

8:05 p.m.: Voters await results in closely contested ridings

What do these five ridings scattered around the province have in common: Kelowna Centre, Surrey-Guildford, Courtenay-Comox, Maple Ridge East and Juan de Fuca-Malahat?

All were decided in the 2024 election by less than one percentage point. In other words, the vote difference in those ridings came down to between 22 and 141 votes.

Tonight will determine which way these and other hotly contested ridings will swing. Keep an eye on our live results map to see how the vote shakes down.

However, former Liberal leader Kevin Falcon was feeling confident that the Conservatives, the party that replaced the Liberals, will win the election.

“I’m excited. I think this is going to finally be the night we will move the NDP out of government,” Falcon shared with reporter Lori Culbert at a West Vancouver watch party.

“I think the mood is really one for change.”

Meanwhile, Paul Finch, President of the B.C. General Employees Union, is at the NDP watch party in Victoria and told reporter Alec Lazenby that all the provincial parties seemed to be disorganized to different degrees and unprepared for a snap election call. He is worried this could lead to lower voter turnout.

“I don’t think I’m speaking anything controversially saying that, and I think what we’re going to see is potentially a lower voter turnout as a result,” said Finch, who added he is concerned about some of the candidates the Conservatives have put forward but is willing to work with any party that forms government.

-Harold Munro, Alec Lazenby, Lori Culbert

8 p.m.: Polls are closed and Postmedia reporters are ready

Our reporters are stationed and ready. Here’s where we’ll be this evening:

• Dan Fumano and Joanne Lee-Young will be in Vancouver.

• Sobia Moman and Derrick Penner will have the latest on Surrey.

• Susan Lazaruk will keep you updated on Burnaby.

• Tiffany Crawford will have the latest on Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge.

• John Mackie will report on Richmond and Delta from the Conservative viewing party at Rocky Mountaineer Station.

• Glenda Luymes will report on Langley and Fraser Valley while stationed at the headquarters of Conservative candidate Misty Van Popta.

• Lori Culbert will report from North Vancouver and West Vancouver at Conservative candidate Caroline Elliott’s watch party.

• Gord Hoekstra will have an overview of results in the Okanagan Interior and Northern B.C.

• Cheryl Chan will round up results from Vancouver Island ridings.

• Alec Lazenby will have an overview of how results shake down across the province.

• David Carrigg will share five major take-aways to know about tonight’s results.

Check back to this blog throughout the evening for updates.

7:07 p.m.: Just one hour left to go before polls close

With just one hour left before polls close tonight, it’s worth keeping in mind what the seat breakdown was at dissolution. Note that a party will need to win 47 seats to form a majority government.

At the time Premier David Eby called the snap election, here’s how many seats each party held:

• B.C. NDP: 47

• B.C. Conservative Party: 36

• Independent: 3

• B.C. Green Party: 2

• OneBC: 2

• CentreBC: 1

• Vacant: 2

Meanwhile, it was all quiet around 7 p.m. on the western front at the B.C. NDP election night event, being held at the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel in downtown Vancouver:

As for the B.C. Conservatives, they opted to host their election night event at the Rocky Mountaineer Station in east Vancouver:

-Dan Fumano and Joanne Lee-Young

6:17 p.m.: Confusion over voting station registration adds to frustration

At least one voting station in Vancouver saw voters becoming frustrated after learning they’d have to wait longer to verify their eligibility to vote.

Reporter Susan Lazaruk visited a voting station at Holy Trinity Anglican Church (1440 West 12th) in the riding of Vancouver-South Granville where voters had been waiting an hour to vote.

Voters were sorted into two lines: a shorter one for voters who were registered to vote at that station, and a longer one for those registered to vote elsewhere.

Two women at the front of the longer line, who declined to give their names, told Lazaruk they had been waiting an hour. One woman lived across the street and the other lived a block away. However, both were told they were supposed to have voted at another station elsewhere in the city.

Four other voters at the end of the longer line did not know they were permitted to use the shorter line as registered voters for that station, with confusion seemingly a result of poor marshalling on the part of the election workers.

Voters who vote at a station where they are not registered will not have their votes added to the final count until Nov. 10.

-Susan Lazaruk

4:48 p.m.: Rain won’t stop these voters from casting their ballots

With just three hours left on election day and rain across the region, voters continued the march of democracy. Thankfully, there is no atmospheric river this election.

On Saturday afternoon, a steady stream of voters filed into the polling station in North Vancouver’s Handsworth Secondary, in the West Vancouver-Capilano riding.

-Lori Culbert

8:30 a.m.: Here’s how hand-counting of ballots will work

Two years ago, Elections B.C. used electronic machines to count votes for the first time and was happy with it. This year, with the snap election, the agency says there wasn’t enough time to prepare for a repeat.

The 890,000 cast in the 300 advance polling stations were tabulated by machines and are ready to be released when polls close on Saturday at 8 p.m.

But each paper ballot cast Saturday in the 2026 provincial election will be counted the time-tested method — that is, by hand.

Voters wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference in the voting booth because the ballots look the same and were filled out the same.

The difference may be evident by the rate at which results are finalized and released by Elections B.C. to the public.

Chief Electoral Officer Shipra Verma explained to Postmedia the “complex operational logistics” cited in an Election B.C. news release for going back to hand-counting.

-Susan Lazaruk

8 a.m.: Polls open on election day morning

The polls are open across B.C. While results won’t be available until after 8 p.m., early turnout over six days leaves some room for concern.

Over six days of advance voting from Oct. 16 to 21, 891,348 voters turned out across B.C., representing about 24 per cent of registered voters. That’s compared with 1,001,331 voters in 2024, or about 28 per cent of registered voters. In almost every riding numbers spiked Saturday, the second day of voting, but ultimately fell short of the 2024 turnout over the full six days.

For more information on where to vote and what ID you need to bring, check our voters’ guide here.

-Glenda Luymes

Read LIVE election day updates from the following regions:

• Vancouver

• Surrey

• Burnaby

•