Several Island races remained tight on Saturday night, with at least one recount expected.

As of midnight, the NDP were leading or elected in nine of Vancouver Island’s 15 seats, though a couple of the races remain super-tight. The Conservatives were ahead in five. The Greens have held onto Saanich North and the Islands.

Ladysmith-Oceanside: Just 93 votes separate Conservatives and NDP

With all votes counted, the seesaw battle in Ladysmith-Oceanside ends with Conservative Kris McNichol 93 votes ahead of NDP incumbent Stephanie Higginson.

Ladysmith-Oceanside was a new riding in 2024, made up of parts of the former Parksville-Qualicum and Nanaimo-North Cowichan districts. Both of those went NDP in 2020, and Higginson kept Ladysmith-Oceanside orange last election with a solid lead over the Conservative.

(For what it’s worth, Parksville-Qualicum was represented by Liberal MLAs for almost 25 years; Nanaimo-North Cowichan only ever had a New Democrat MLA in its 15 years of existence.)

A former secondary school teacher and president of the B.C. School Trustees’ Association, Higginson faces two opponents this time.

McNichol, a businessman who ran for the Conservatives in the 2025 federal election, is running for the Conservative Party of B.C. Charlene Smylie, a former mayor and councillor for Wabamun, Alta., is running for the B.C. Green Party.

Mid Island-Pacific Rim: NDP’s Josie Osborne re-elected

NDP incumbent Josie Osborne has been re-elected with almost 47 per cent of the vote, about 1,700 votes ahead of Conservative Joshua Dahling. Green candidate Gracie MacDonald was a distant third

Osborne was first elected in 2020 with 58 per cent of the vote. She won again in 2024 by a strong margin, but it was the first time in six elections that support for the NDP dropped below 50 per cent in the riding.

Osborne served in five different folios for the NDP government, most recently as the Minister of Health.

Dahling has worked in logging and at alcohol and drug treatment facilities, and has lived experience with poverty, instability, homelessness and addiction. He lives in Port Alberni.

MacDonald is a former teacher and school principal and a former partner in Saanich Organics. She now lives on Denman Island.

Saanich South: Conservative Cathie Ounsted elected

Conservative Cathie Ounsted has won Saanich South, which had been held by the New Democrat since 2005.

Ounsted served as chair of the Victoria Airport Authority and is a former Central Saanich councillor. She ran unsuccessfully in the federal riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands last year.

She faced New Democrat Richard Zussman, a former TV journalist, and Green Lisa Lapointe, the former chief coroner of British Columbia.

After five terms, NDP incumbent Lana Popham did not run for re-election this year. She won the seat in 2024 with almost 50 per cent of the vote (impressive, yes, but lower than the 56 per cent she got in 2020).

Victoria-Beacon Hill: NDP’s Grace Lore holds seat

New Democrat incumbent Grace Lore has won Victoria-Beacon Hill, about 1,200 votes ahead of the Green candidate with all polls reporting.

Lore held down the NDP stronghold in the last election with a comfortable lead over the former Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau. The riding has been NDP since it was created in 1991, except for a B.C. Liberal term in 2001-2005.

Lore, an anti-violence advocate and former lecturer at the University of Victoria, has held many positions in the NDP government. She got 54 per cent of the vote in 2020, and 47 per cent in 2024.

She is running against Green candidate Raj Sahota, a personal injury and human rights lawyer, and Independent Joachim Agou, a professional engineer.

Victoria-Swan Lake: New Democrat Nina Krieger re-elected

NDP incumbent Nina Krieger has won in Victoria-Swan Lake, with almost 44 per cent of the vote. 

Krieger faced Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association president Carolyn Howe and real estate professional Tim Taylor for the Conservatives.

The riding has been held by the party since its creation in 2009. Newcomer Krieger took over for long-time MLA Rob Fleming, holding the seat for the NDP with a 23-percentage-point lead in 2024.

Oak Bay-Gordon Head: NDP incumbent Diana Gibson wins

New Democrat Diana Gibson has held onto her seat in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, where the riding’s former MLA, Andrew Weaver, finished fourth for CentreBC.

Conservative Stan Sipos came in second, followed by Green Andrew Appleton.

The riding has been NDP only since 2020, when former MP Murray Rankin became MLA. Before that, it was the longtime seat of former Weaver, the former B.C. Green Party leader.

Courtenay-Comox: New Democrat Will Cole-Hamilton flips riding

Courtenay-Comox might be bucking the trend. While a blue wave washes away NDP incumbents across B.C., New Democrat Will Cole-Hamilton, a Courtenay councillor, has defeated Conservative MLA Brennan Day by 699 votes.

Cole-Hamilton and Day were neck and neck through the evening as ballots were counted, but the NDP pulled away later in the evening, finishing with about 45 per cent of the vote.

The Green Party’s Jay Van Oostdam finished a distant third, well ahead of CentreBC’s Jason Cooke.

Day, who left the Conservative Party when it was under Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s leadership this summer, rejoined the party for the election.

Cowichan Valley: Another tight Conservative-NDP race

The race for MLA in the Cowichan Valley riding was a virtual dead heat between Conservative Bert Chen and incumbent NDP MLA Debra Toporowski with close to 95 per cent of ballot boxes reporting. 

Chen was at 10,781 votes and 42.6 per cent of the total to Toporowski’s 10,735 and 42.4 per cent.

Green candidate Justin Douglas was at 3,670 votes and 14.5 per cent.

The Cowichan Valley riding got new boundaries in 2024 — and a new MLA. In its previous version, the riding had been solidly Green for several elections, represented by former Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau. But Furstenau ran (and lost) elsewhere in 2024, and New Democrat Toporowski won the seat with 40 per cent of the vote.

North Island: Conservative Anna Kindy re-elected

Anna Kindy, a physician and addictions specialist who held the role of health critic for the B.C. Conservatives, cruised to another victory in the North Island, an NDP stronghold that she flipped to Conservative blue two years ago.

She had a wide lead on NDP candidate Sara Lopez, a political newcomer who works in the non-profit sector, with about 48 per cent of the vote as the final ballot boxes were counted late Saturday. Lopez had about 43 per cent. Green Benjamin Olsson was a distant third.

Kindy, a former Olympic moguls skier, defeated NDP incumbent Michele Babchuk by less than 700 votes in 2024, flipping a North Island riding that had been under NDP influence since 2005. Her win, by a 2.2 percentage-point margin, was one of the tightest races on Vancouver Island.

Saanich North and the Islands: Greens hold riding with Emily Lowan

B.C. Green Leader Emily Lowan won the riding of Saanich North and the Islands with almost 49 per cent of the vote. Conservative Ryan Windsor had about 32 per cent, while New Democrat Kala Bryson had 17 per cent.

Lowan takes over the riding from fellow Green Rob Botterell, who won the seat in 2024 but decided not to seek re-election.

Before leading the Greens, Lowan was a climate action activist who played a key role in a student-led campaign at the University of Victoria that resulted in the school directing investments away from fossil fuels.

Botterell won his seat in 2024 in a tight three-way race with the Conservatives and NDP. The riding was previously represented by Green Adam Olsen.

Also running was retired immunologist Dr. Richard Smith for CentreBC. He got about 2 per cent of the vote.

Juan de Fuca-Malahat: Conservative Mike Hicks turns riding blue

It was a nail-biter of a race in Juan de Fuca-Malahat between the Conservatives and the NDP, but Conservative Mike Hicks has won over NDP incumbent Dana Lajeunesse.

Lajeunesse won the riding in the 2024 election by a razor-thin margin of 141 votes ahead of his Conservative candidate.

Previously a two-term municipal councillor in Sooke, Lajeunesse served as the parliamentary secretary for accessibility in the NDP government.

He faced four candidates, including Shane Friesen, a skilled trades worker and the Island’s only OneBC candidate.

David Evans, a small businessman, returned to the ballot after an unsuccessful run in the 2024 election.

Jeff Brown, a business leader and accountant, ran for the Christian Heritage Party.

Esquimalt-Colwood: NDP’s Darlene Rotchford wins second term

Esquimalt-Colwood New Democrat Darlene Rotchford has won a second term, capturing about 43 per cent of the vote on Saturday night.

While the Esquimalt-Colwood riding was new in the 2024 election, the region has historically been an NDP stronghold, and Rotchford won by a 22-percentage-point margin last time.

Rotchford, who was previously elected as an Esquimalt council member, has served in the NDP government as the parliamentary secretary for Armed Forces development and veterans affairs.

Running against her were three other candidates: the Green Party’s Sidney Coles, a journalist and environmental justice researcher; the Conservative Party’s Dave Johnston, a Canadian Ranger in the Canadian Armed Forces; and CentreBC’s Sid Tobias, the outgoing mayor of View Royal.

Nanaimo-Gabriola Island: New Democrat Sheila Malcolmson re-elected

Incumbent NDP MLA Sheila Malcolmson won her Nanaimo-Gabriola seat in Saturday’s election with 48 per cent of the vote. Conservative Mark MacDonald got about 36 per cent, while Green Anna Mary McKenzie had 16 per cent.

First elected for the riding of Nanaimo in 2019, Malcolmson was elected in the new riding of Nanaimo-Gabriola Island in 2024 with a lead of almost 20 percentage points.

A one-term federal NDP MP, she has since served provincially as minister of mental health and addictions, and most recently as the minister of social development and poverty reduction.

Nanaimo-Lantzville: George Anderson elected to another term

Fewer than 1,000 separated the top two finishers in Nanaimo-Lantzville, but New Democrat incumbent George Anderson pulled out a win with about 47 per cent of the vote.

Anderson won with 11,563 votes over Conservative candidate Kelsey Pringle’s 10,697 votes, according to preliminary results.

Nanaimo-Lantzville went orange in 2024, the newly formed riding’s first election. 

Anderson was up for re-election against Pringle, a marketing business-owner, for the Conservatives; Pepper Saltman, a food service worker, for the Communist Party; and Sharleen Weatherley, a high school teacher and former data scientist, for the Green Party.

Langford-Highlands: NDP’s Ravi Parmar holds onto seat

Ravi Parmar has held onto his seat as MLA for Langford-Highlands, preliminary results show. The minister of forests held about 45 per cent of the vote with about 93 per cent of ballot boxes reported.

He was ahead of B.C. Conservative candidate Cindy Scott, who earned about 39 per cent of the vote, and B.C. Green candidate Christopher Moon, who won about 13 per cent.

The 2024 provincial elections saw Parmar become the first MLA for Langford-Highlands, a new riding for that election.

— With files from The Canadian Press