British Columbia’s New Democratic Party (NDP) is on the cusp of a historic victory tonight over the not-so liberal B.C. Liberals, according to The Tyee, the province’s best-known online-only publication.
The Tyee’s final electoral prediction breaks down as follows:
- NDP: Fifty-seven seats
- Liberals: Twenty-seven seats
- Independents: One seat
The Tyee classifies thirty-four seats as “definitely” NDP, with only thirteen “definitely” Liberal. A further twenty-three seats are considered “Likely” NDP and fourteen “Likely” Liberal. The Tyee no longer has any races classified as tossups.
If the NDP does indeed capture fifty-five plus seats tonight, it will be an electoral victory of mammoth proportions, and Adrian Dix will take over as the province’s next premier with a clear mandate to govern.
Eleventh hour polls indicate the NDP remains comfortably ahead of the Liberals, although polls in other recent provincial elections have been less than reliable.
But there’s no evidence that suggests that the Liberals are going to eke out an upset here at the end. They haven’t conceded defeat, but they lack the energy and the momentum that the NDP is clearly enjoying.
They’ve attempted to scare British Columbians into not voting NDP, and that tactic has certainly worked in the past, but this may be the year it fails spectacularly.
The NDP, under Adrian Dix, has remained cool and collected in the face of Liberal attacks for weeks, and is countering television ad campaigns with people power. The NDP is fielding its best slate of candidates in years and has improved its GOTV (get out the vote) operations to compensate for the Liberals’ money advantage.
I saw this firsthand when I visited the Vancouver area over the weekend.
If the NDP wins tonight, the entire Left Coast — stretching from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Alaskan coast — will have Democratic/New Democratic, progressive chief executives in charge. (Oregon and California elected John Kitzhaber and Jerry Brown in 2010, while Washington elected Jay Inslee just last year).
And British Columbia will have a government committed to job training, economic opportunities, protecting the province’s coasts and addressing the climate crisis.
We will have live coverage of the B.C. provincial election here on The Advocate tonight beginning at 8 PM. Check back for instant analysis as the results roll in and we learn who will be the next Premier of British Columbia.
Thank you so much for covering the BC elections. As a Democratic Socialist, I look longingly at the possibility of a party representing the interest of working people in the United States. Although the NDP has drop the socialist label, its programs and goals remain socialist. I wish people would forget the labels and look at what democratic socialists are proposing. We want the interest of people to come before corporations. We want a sustainable world. We want a peaceful world. We want a world where good health and education are a guarantee. Where food and shelter is available for all. And finally, we want world where justice and equality rule. We Americans should look to the north for examples of what can be done.