Doug Routley of the NDP has been re-elected as MLA in Nanaimo-North Cowichan, keeping the seat for the party.
Routley, who’s been the riding’s MLA since 2005, earned 5,082 out of 11,364 counted votes (44.72 per cent) with 87 of 95 polls reporting.
Chris Istace of the BC Green Party received 3,858 votes (33.95 per cent), with 2,424 votes (21.33 per cent) for Duck Paterson of the BC Liberal Party.
BC Liberal candidate Duck Paterson extended his congratulations to his opponents.
“I respect both of them very much for letting their names stand, and I congratulate Doug for another go round at it.”
Paterson said that he wants to see a plan from the NDP to strengthen the economy, and a plan for the province to overcome deficits imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Oct. 23, 9,956 vote-by-mail packages had been issued to registered voters in the riding. There are a total of 40,266 registered voters in Nanaimo-North Cowichan.
READ ALSO: Provincial election results, riding by riding
As of 10:16 p.m., The Canadian Press projected the BC NDP had won a majority government. The party had won or was leading in 55 of 87 seats. The BC Liberal Party had won or was leading in 29, and the BC Green Party had won or was leading in three seats.
Provincewide, 724,279 mail-in ballots had been sent out, and there are 3,485,858 registered voters.
Mail-in ballots will be counted by hand, starting in 13 days.
