The politics of Kelowna students differ quite substantially from that of their parents and other residents of the city.
In a mock vote, students in Kelowna voted in the Green Party’s Amanda Poon for Kelowna-Mission (558/1460 votes, 38.22%) and the NDP’s Spring Hawes in Kelowna West (240/645, 37.21%). Kelowna-Lake Country ended in a tie between the NDP’s Justin Kulik and the Green Party’s John Janmaat, with each earning 200 of the 577 votes cast (35.91% each).
The numbers are nowhere near similar to what preliminary results from election night showed, with each BC Liberal candidate across Kelowna’s three ridings taking more than 50 per cent of the vote and being declared the winner.
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More than 700 elementary, middle and high schools participated in the Student Vote program for the 2020 British Columbia provincial election.
After learning about government and the election process, researching the parties and platforms, and debating the future of British Columbia, students cast ballots for the official candidates running in their school’s electoral district.
CIVIX delivered the program in partnership with Elections BC. This was the sixth provincial Student Vote organized to date.
Based on current tallies, more than 85,000 students cast ballots, representing all 87 electoral districts in the province.
Students elected John Horgan and the BC NDP to form a majority government with 59 out of 87 seats and 40 per cent of the vote. Horgan also won in the electoral district of Langford-Juan de Fuca with 52 per cent of the vote.
Sonia Furstenau and the BC Green Party took 16 seats, forming the official opposition, receiving 28 per cent of the popular vote. Furstenau also won in the electoral district of Cowichan Valley with 49 per cent of the vote.
Andrew Wilkinson and the BC Liberal Party won 12 seats and received 25 per cent of the vote. Wilkinson also won in the electoral district of Vancouver-Quilchena with 39 per cent of the vote.
The Conservative Party of BC won one seat. Party leader Trevor Bolin won in the electoral district of Peace River North with 42 per cent of the vote.
The Christian Heritage Party of BC won one seat. Party leader Rod Taylor was elected in the Stikine electoral district with 41 per cent of the vote.
The Student Vote BC 2020 online results platform presents the province-wide results, as well as results for each electoral district and for each individual school.
The results include two ties, in the electoral districts of Kelowna-Lake Country (tied between the BC Green Party and BC NDP) and Shuswap (tied between the BC Liberal Party and BC NDP).
You can view the complete results at studentvote.ca.
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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