VICTORIA – Despite her profile as a former Esquimalt municipal councillor and two-time candidate for provincial office, Green Party leader Jane Sterk failed to capture the Esquimalt-Royal Roads seat in the May 12 election.

Sterk finished third in the riding behind both NDP incumbent Maurine Karagianis and Liberal candidate Carl Ratsoy. Preliminary numbers indicate Sterk captured approximately 16 per cent of the riding's votes, compared to 53 per cent for the NDP and 30 per cent for the Liberals.  

Sterk was subdued when she entered party headquarters shortly after 6 p.m., telling The Tyee that the party had followed its strategic plan, did the best it could with the meagre financial resources on which it could draw and that "this was a good dry run for 2013."

As the riding results rolled in through a projector on the Green Party headquarter wall after 8 p.m., Sterk stood with her hands clasped in front of her or alternately stroking her chin. When the lopsided outcome of the race against NDP incumbent Maurine Karagianis became clear, Sterk said, "Of course I am disappointed. I had hoped my reputation in the community would allow me to crash through the first past the post system."

Asked whether she'd stay on as party leader after defeat in tonight's contest and last October's Vancouver-Fairview by-election, she said she would.

"This was a tough night. But this is what everyone expected, really," said Steven Johns, the Green running in the Oak Bay-Gordon Head riding, putting into words want seemed a palpable feeling at Green HQ throughout the night.

In a speech to her supporters, Sterk had especially harsh words for certain factions of the environmental movement, saying, "Your attempt to marginalize the Green Party is beyond my comprehension."

B.C. Green party provincial secretary Murray Gundmundson said that while the party has recovered from what he called "mismanagement" by the previous party executive, it has a long way to go toward building its candidate recruitment process and fundraising mechanisms to compete on the same level as the NDP or the Liberals.

The eight percent of the popular vote the Greens appear to have taken in the province is below both their 2005 and 2001 result when the Green Party had its best-ever showing, taking 12.39 per cent of the popular vote.

While results from Green candidate Damien Kettlewell's Vancouver False-Creek race appeared on screen, Gundmundson muttered, "It's unfortunate that people feel compelled to vote for the party they think has the best chance of winning. I hear that all the time going door to door."

The Tyee asked Green Party of Canada B.C. organizer Rob Hines – who arrived in Victoria five weeks ago to work on Sterk's behalf – whether she may have lost local support by campaigning outside her riding to raise the party profile.

"If you have the chance to compete in the televised leaders debate versus an all-candidates meeting in your riding, I think the choice is clear," he said.

This was only the second election in which the Greens have fielded a full slate of candidates. In 2005, then-Green leader Adriane Carr secured almost 26 percent of the popular vote in the Powell River-Sunshine Coast. At the time of filing this story, Sterk appeared a long way from that mark.

This is not the first time that Sterk has run against the NDP's Karagianis. Both also ran in the former Esquimalt-Metchosin riding in the 2005 provincial election. That time around Sterk secured only 2672 votes to Karagianis' 12,545, or approximately 8.5 percent of votes cast in the riding.

At times the Green Party's 2009 campaign seemed geared more toward securing passage of BC-STV than winning any seats in the legislature. As of posting, the results of the referendum on electoral reform were not yet known.

Jason Youmans reports for Monday Magazine in Victoria.