VANCOUVER — It was a landslide victory in the last election in Parksville-Qualicum when Michelle Stilwell of the BC Liberal Party took 45.13 per cent of the vote, defeating Sue Powell of the NDP by a margin of 16.47 percentage points.

Stilwell is up for re-election this year. Powell, however, is not running again.

The NDP is running Adam Walker as its candidate, Don Purdey is the candidate for the Conservative party and Rob Lyon is running for the Green party.

John St John is running as an Independent.

The Parksville-Qualicum riding includes the communities of Fairwinds, Nanaimo and Parksville.

There are 48,396 registered voters in the riding, compared to 45,891 in the last election.

As of Oct. 20, 14,273 vote-by-mail packages had been issued to registered voters.

The previous voter turnout rate in the riding was 70.21 per cent, compared to 61.18 per cent provincewide.

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.

-----

Last election statistics at a glance: 

Previous candidates (in order of rank):

1. Stilwell, Michelle

Affiliation: BC Liberal Party

Total valid votes: 14,468

Vote share: 45.13 per cent

2. Powell, Sue

Affiliation: NDP

Total valid votes: 9,189

Vote share: 28.66 per cent

3. Sollitt, Glenn

Affiliation: Green party

Total valid votes: 8,157

Vote share: 25.44 per cent

4. Hand, Terry

Affiliation: BC Refederation party

Total valid votes: 245

Vote share: 0.76 per cent

Previous riding statistics at a glance: 

Total registered voters: 45,891

Total registered voters who voted: 32,218

Voter turnout: 70.21 per cent

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2020 and was generated automatically.

—————————

Digital Data Desk, The Canadian Press