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With polls closing across British Columbia at 8 p.m., The Tyee will provide on-the-scene reporting and results as soon as they begin to arrive.
Reporters will be in place at the election-night headquarters of the three main parties, and reporting will be updated through the evening.
Premier David Eby sent the province into the snap election just two years into the BC NDP’s mandate, hoping to secure a larger majority.
As the campaign launched, Eby said the NDP needed to battle threats from U.S. President Donald Trump and to sideline a fractured opposition that would bring chaos and division to the province. The election call came days after former Conservative Party of BC leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned after less than four months as leader.
The Conservatives, however, quickly united behind interim leader Lorne Doerkson, the MLA for Cariboo-Chilcotin, and ran an effective campaign despite the short notice and internal strife.
Doerkson became leader only two days before Eby called the election. Findlay had won the leadership in a narrow vote in May but was plagued with a series of scandals, criticisms of her staffing choices and the departure of many MLAs.
The reunited Conservatives have polled higher than the NDP throughout the 32-day campaign period, much of which overlapped with municipal government elections. Aggregate numbers give the party a lead of about five per cent over the NDP. The BC Green Party has polled at around 10 per cent, and support has been low for right-wing splinter parties CentreBC and OneBC.
There are 93 seats in the legislature, so a party needs to win 47 to form a majority government.
On Friday Eby insisted he had no regrets about calling the election early.
“The election call was necessary,” he said. “The legislature was not working and could not work to deliver these big swings.”
During the campaign, the NDP ran on lowering the cost of fuel, cutting the cost of basic groceries, raising taxes for top earners, freezing ICBC rates and supporting health care.
“There were 13 times the Conservatives tried to collapse the government,” Eby said. “The whole focus was keeping government going instead of delivering for British Columbians.”
The Conservatives’ promises included accelerating economic growth, cutting income taxes, maintaining services and repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
Read more: BC Election 2026, BC Politics
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