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