No clear winner in B.C. election race between NDP, Conservatives [Video]

A tight race for political power in British Columbia still had no clear winner early Sunday after the vast majority of votes in the provincial election had been counted, with a weakened incumbent party barely holding off its top challenger late into the night.

With a little more than 96 per cent of votes counted, the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives were left locked in a near dead heat. 

The NDP were either elected or leading in 46 ridings, while the Conservatives had won or were leading in 45 — each just a seat or two shy of the 47 needed to win a majority government.

The razor-thin result means the race will come down to the final polls, out-of-district votes and mail in ballots. The latter aren’t expected to be fully counted until Oct. 26.

• See a riding-by-riding breakdown of the results here

The delay in announcing the results came after an unusually antagonistic election campaign characterized by the growing popularity of the right-of-centre Conservatives, …