VANCOUVER — In the 2019 byelection in Nanaimo, Shelia Malcolmson of the NDP took 49.88 per cent of the vote, defeating Tony Harris of the BC Liberal Party by a margin of 9.98 percentage points.

Malcolmson is up for re-election this year. Harris, however, is not running again.

Lia Marie Constance Versaevel is the candidate for the Green party and Kathleen Jones is running for the BC Liberal Party.

There are 47,798 registered voters in the riding, compared to 44,184 in the last election.

As of Oct. 20, 11,468 vote-by-mail packages had been issued to registered voters.

The voter turnout rate in the 2019 byelection was 52.63 per cent, compared to 61.18 per cent provincewide in the 2017 election.

At dissolution, the NDP held 41 seats, the BC Liberal Party had 41 seats and the Green party two seats. Two seats were held by Independents and one seat was vacant.

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2019 byelection statistics at a glance:

Previous candidates (in order of rank):

1. Malcolmson, Shelia
Affiliation: BC NDP
Total valid votes: 12,114
Vote share: 49.88 per cent

2. Harris, Tony
Affiliation: BC Liberal Party
Total valid votes: 9,691
Vote share: 39.90 per cent

3. Ney, Michele
Affiliation: BC Green Party
Total valid votes: 1,783
Vote share: 7.34 per cent

Previous riding statistics at a glance:
Total registered voters: 46,210
Total registered voters who voted: 24,320
Voter turnout: 52.63 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2020 and was generated automatically.

Digital Data Desk, The Canadian Press