The race for the job of MLA representing Coquitlam-Burke Mountain is tight, with BC Liberal challenger Joan Isaacs holding a slim lead over NDP incumbent Jodie Wickens tonight.
With all 88 ballot boxes accounted for, but without absentee ballots, Isaacs had picked up 9,514 votes (44.44% of votes cast) to Wickens' 9,344 (43.64%) -- a difference of just 170 votes or just 0.8%. (The BC Greens' Ian Soutar earned 2,553 votes, or 11.92%).
Isaacs, speaking at a BC Liberal election night party at the Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club, first said the results were looking good but the race was too close to count; she said she wants to wait for the absentee ballots to be counted. "We want to make sure it really is a win," she said.
But after Global BC declared her the winner, she changed her tune, saying: "That changes gears again. Happy to be the MLA in Coquitlam-Burke Mountain. I'm anxious to really get going."
After she walked away from the TV cameras, she said she was “apprehensive to make that jump” and wants to be “very careful” before declaring victory.
But she’s cautiously optimistic and wants to congratulate Wickens for running a good campaign.
Wickens walked into her election party at Pasta Polo restaurant at around 11:40 p.m., wiped away tears, stood on a chair and gave a 10-minute speech.
After naming volunteers in the room and thanking them for their work, she said, “We were so successful in this region tonight. We have a lot to be proud of.
“It’s an emotional night. I got involved in politics because I believe that everybody deserves a chance. And I believe that we need to take care of everyone in this community. This election was about all of us.”
She also praised Isaacs and Soutar for putting their names forward.
“And now we have to wait,” she said.
There is likely to be a judicial recount, as there was in the 2013 race between Selina Robinson and Steve Kim in Coquitlam-Maillardville. Absentee ballots can take two weeks to count and can account for up to 10% of the vote, which was the case four years ago in that race. If the race is close following counting of absentee ballots, it may go to a judicial recount.
