The vote count in British Columbia’s election on Saturday produced a massive majority for the B.C. Conservatives, but it’s also revealing other trends.

Here’s a closer look at the numbers, based on preliminary results from Elections BC.

TURNOUT PLUNGES TO RECORD LOW

The early election saw preliminary turnout drop to 1,798,990, down about 14.7 per cent from the 2024 election when 2,109,658 people voted.

Turnout was 48.1 per cent, a record low for B.C. since at least 1949, when suffrage was extended to Indigenous people and some previously excluded ethnic groups.

It is also the first time that turnout has dropped below half, although the 2020 pandemic election came close at 53.9 per cent.

Turnout has broadly been declining at B.C. elections since the 1980s when it sometimes topped 75 per cent.

VOTES FOR BOTH MAIN PARTIES FELL

The B.C. Conservatives may have won a huge majority with more than 60 seats in the 93-riding legislature, but the party saw its vote drop compared with 2024 — although not nearly by as much as the NDP.

Preliminary results show the Conservatives received 862,317 votes, down about 5.4 per cent from 911,153 in 2024.

The NDP received 670,811 votes, compared with 944,579 in 2024, a massive drop of 30 per cent.

The Conservative vote share this election is about 48 per cent, compared with 37 per cent for the NDP.

The Greens meanwhile saw their vote count jump to 196,896, up about 14 per cent from 2024, and saw their vote share spike from 8.2 per cent to about 11 per cent.

NO MORE INDEPENDENTS

The legislature’s brief dalliance with Independent legislators appears to be over for now.

At dissolution, the legislature had 13 Independents, mostly disgruntled Conservatives who returned to the party fold in time for the election.

But there were also former Conservatives Jordan Kealy and Tara Armstrong. The Independent camp included OneBC’s Dallas Brodie and CentreBC’s Elenore Sturko, who were their parties’ sole legislators.

Kealy, who is facing a sexual assault charge that he denies, was the only incumbent legislator running without a party banner on Saturday and he was soundly defeated in Peace River North by Conservative Curtis Whitford.

Brodie receive just 4 per cent of the vote in Vancouver-Quilchena, which was won by the Conservatives’ Carson Binda, while Sturko fared only a little better, receiving 10.1 per cent of the vote in Surrey South, won easily by Conservative Megan Knight.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2026.