Burnaby election: NDP behind in two seats, recount possible in third

The BC NDP's nine-year hold on Burnaby is over. Preliminary results from Saturday's provincial election show the Conservatives leading in Burnaby Centre and Burnaby North, ending a run in which the New Democrats had won every Burnaby seat since 2017 - and one of the seats where the NDP leads is close enough to face a possible recount.

All five Burnaby ridings finished counting their election-night ballots by early Sunday morning, according to Elections BC's official results site, which marks each as counting complete with results not yet official.

Kang trails in Burnaby Centre

Conservative Joshua Domnich leads three-term NDP incumbent and cabinet minister Anne Kang in Burnaby Centre, 6,676 votes to 5,834 - 47.5 per cent to 41.5 per cent, a margin of 842. Green candidate Shila Taheri took 1,150 votes and CentreBC's Vikas Gautam 354.

Kang, who has served in three cabinet posts, was first elected in 2017 in what was then Burnaby-Deer Lake after the retirement of longtime NDP MLA Kathy Corrigan, and won the newly created Burnaby Centre in 2024 with more than 57 per cent of the vote. If the numbers hold through the final count, losing the seat two years later - by more than 800 votes - would mark one of the highest-profile NDP defeats in the province: a sitting cabinet minister swept out in a city her party had owned for nearly a decade.

Routledge trails in Burnaby North

In Burnaby North, Conservative Simon Chandler leads three-term NDP incumbent Janet Routledge by 8,243 votes to 7,474 - a margin of 769. Green candidate Maddy Kennedy-Parrott finished with 1,617 votes and OneBC's Jenny Yamagata with 413.

Routledge, a former parliamentary secretary, first took the seat in 2017 after an unsuccessful run in 2013. Before her, the riding was held for 16 years by Richard Lee - recently re-elected to Burnaby city council - and she won it comfortably in 2024 with 53 per cent of the vote. That history makes Saturday's preliminary result all the more striking: Burnaby North was not a marginal seat.

A 66-vote race in Burnaby South-Metrotown

The closest race in the city - and one of the closest in B.C. - is Burnaby South-Metrotown, where NDP incumbent Paul Choi leads Conservative David Xie by 5,811 votes to 5,745. The 66-vote gap is small enough that it should trigger a judicial recount after the final count under election rules, Freshet News reported.

Green candidate Bryan Fockler won 1,151 votes and OneBC's Andrew Rose 379. Choi was first elected in 2024, when the riding was created from parts of Burnaby-Edmonds and Burnaby-Deer Lake; he took it that year with 49 per cent of the vote, so a razor-thin defence is not out of character for the seat.

For context on how tight this is: fewer than one in every 200 ballots separates the two candidates. Every rejected ballot, every mail envelope, every transcription check at the final count will matter.

Two seats where the NDP leads

In Burnaby East, NDP incumbent Rohini Arora leads Conservative Peter Si by 7,759 votes to 7,518, a margin of 241 - comfortable enough to avoid recount territory but far tighter than her 2024 win. Green Javad Shushtarian took 1,672 votes and OneBC's De Ding 523.

And in Burnaby-New Westminster, longtime MLA and Speaker of the legislature Raj Chouhan leads Conservative Joe Latam by 7,748 votes to 6,163. That race had no Green candidate, and 482 ballots were rejected - the highest local rejection count in the region. The NDP has held Burnaby East and its predecessor, Burnaby-Lougheed, since 2013.

What a recount means

Nothing is official yet. Elections BC does not count vote-by-mail, assisted-telephone or absentee ballots on election night; those enter at the final count, which begins November 6. Judicial recounts, where required or granted, come after that.

British Columbia saw several judicial recounts after the 2024 election, some taking days to resolve and at least one flipping a seat. A 66-vote margin is exactly the kind of race where the final count matters: a handful of mail ballots could change the outcome in Burnaby South-Metrotown.

Burnaby Centre's 842-vote margin and Burnaby North's 769 are unlikely to move enough to flip back, and Burnaby East's 241 sits in between - close, but outside the recount conversation unless the final count shifts sharply.

Part of a regional wave

Burnaby's preliminary results mirror what happened across the Tri-Cities on Saturday, where the Conservatives lead in the NDP-held ridings of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain, Coquitlam-Maillardville and Port Moody-Burquitlam and the NDP leads in Port Coquitlam by 386 votes. Province-wide, the Conservatives lead in 64 of 93 seats - a majority government if the preliminary numbers hold.

For the NDP, losing ground in Burnaby carries extra sting: the city has been the party's Metro Vancouver anchor, home to cabinet ministers and safe seats through three elections. Losing two of five ridings here - and nearly a third - shows how deep the Conservative wave cut into the NDP's suburban base.

See our riding-by-riding Tri-Cities results for the local picture, including the close Port Coquitlam race that will also draw scrutiny at the final count.