ELECTION 2015: Conservative Mel Arnold leads in North Okanagan-Shuswap race

VERNON – When North Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes announced he wasn’t seeking reelection, the riding was guaranteed a brand new representative out of the 2015 federal election. That new representative was chosen tonight.

The riding has been a Conservative stronghold for many years, and tonight's results show that tradition will continue for another term. 

Conservative Mel Arnold showed an early lead as the first results started trickling in after 7 p.m. As of 7:15 p.m., Arnold had about 44.6 per cent, followed by Jacqui Gingras with 26.8 per cent, and Cindy Derkaz with about 23.7 per cent. As of 7:50 p.m., Derkaz began closing the gap, up to 30 per cent, compared to 40 per cent for Arnold. 

By 8:30 p.m., at 165 of 277 polls reporting, Arnold was declared the winner with 39.3 per cent of the vote. Derkaz pulled in second, with about 30 per cent of the vote. 

Jacqui Gingras ran an aggressive campaign for the NDP, and came up with about 26 per cent of the vote. Green candidate Chris George also ran an active campaign in the region, and took home about five per cent of the vote.

With a population of 121,474 people, the riding had 96,243 registered voters heading into election day. Over 16,000 people cast ballots in advance polls, or about 17 per cent of voters.

ARNOLD DECLARED WINNER

ELECTION 2015: Conservative win in North Okanagan-Shuswap

You can view the complete results on Elections Canada. 

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.