The B.C. Conservative Party is holding a news conference on Thursday morning over what it says are “findings on 2024 election irregularities” after a recount gave the B.C. NDP a slim win in a crucial riding for a bare majority.
Conservative Leader John Rustad and Honveer Singh Randhawa, the party’s candidate for the Surrey-Guildford riding, are set to talk at 10 a.m. PT about “concerns emerging from the 2024 provincial election.”
It’s the riding the B.C. NDP’s Garry Begg won by a slim margin of 22 votes, giving it a one-seat majority of 47 seats in the 93-seat legislature.
Begg received 8,947 votes compared to the Conservative candidate’s 8,925, a result confirmed by a judicial recount overseen by Justice Kevin Loo of the B.C. Supreme Court.
Garry Begg won Surrey-Guildford by 22 votes, a result that was confirmed in a judicial recount. (Mike McArthur/CBC)
The nature of the Conservatives’ concerns has not been made public. In the wake of the NDP’s election victory, the party had expressed faith in the process and said it accepted the election results.
“This morning, I personally took part in counting some of the final ballots in Surrey-Guildford,” read a tweet from Angelo Isidorou, the Tories’ campaign manager, on Oct. 28.
“[Elections B.C.] staff were all incredibly diligent in their work and very thorough in ensuring transparency. I feel confident in their work.”
In a statement on Wednesday, an Elections B.C. spokesperson said it had not received any information about the Tories’ news conference.
“We received a complaint from Honveer Singh Randhawa on [Jan.] 3, 2025. The complaint is under review,” the spokesperson wrote. “We are unable to provide further information at this time.”
The provincial election body received much scrutiny from the Conservatives after an uncounted box of votes was discovered in the Prince George-Mackenzie riding, along with 14 votes in the Surrey-Guildford riding.
It also received flak for the drawn-out nature of the recount process, with B.C. voters having to wait nearly three weeks after the Oct. 19 election to find out who their government was.
“While I am not disputing the final outcome pending remaining judicial recounts, it’s clear that mistakes like these severely undermine public trust in our electoral process,” Rustad said in a tweet on Nov. 4.
“This is an unprecedented failure by the very institution responsible for ensuring the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”
WATCH | Rustad calls for independent review of Elections B.C.:
The B.C. NDP had suggested an all-party committee to review Elections B.C.’s handling of the count.
Rustad opposed it and suggested an independent review of the counting instead — while asserting he wasn’t disputing the outcome.
“Democracy is a delicate structure if you want to call it that,” he told CBC News on Nov. 5. “And if we do not have confidence in our democratic processes, we are in serious trouble. And I don’t want to be doing anything that’s going to undermine the process.”
B.C. Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman had defended the process in the wake of the recounts and said Elections B.C. was investigating the mistakes to “identify key lessons learned.”
Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman is seen speaking on Sept. 25, 2024. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)