VANCOUVER — It was a landslide victory in the last election in Surrey-Whalley when Bruce Ralston of the NDP took 58.62 per cent of the vote, defeating Sargy Chima of the BC Liberal Party by a margin of 28.54 percentage points.
Ralston, who served as the minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources, is up for re-election this year. Chima, however, is not running again.
Shaukat Khan is running for the BC Liberal Party.
Also in the race are Jag Bhandari for the BC Vision party and Ryan Abbott for the Communist Party of BC.
The Surrey-Whalley riding is located in Metro Vancouver.
There are 38,399 registered voters in the riding, compared to 34,440 in the last election.
As of Oct. 20, 5,158 vote-by-mail packages had been issued to registered voters.
The previous voter turnout rate in the riding was 51.55 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.
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Last election statistics at a glance:
Previous candidates (in order of rank):
1. Ralston, Bruce
Affiliation: NDP
Total valid votes: 10,315
Vote share: 58.62 per cent
2. Chima, Sargy
Affiliation: BC Liberal Party
Total valid votes: 5,293
Vote share: 30.08 per cent
3. Fromholt, Rita Anne
Affiliation: Green party
Total valid votes: 1,893
Vote share: 10.76 per cent
4. Gidora, George
Affiliation: Communist Party of BC
Total valid votes: 96
Vote share: 0.55 per cent
Previous riding statistics at a glance:
Total registered voters: 34,440
Total registered voters who voted: 17,754
Voter turnout: 51.55 per cent
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2020 and was generated automatically.
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Digital Data Desk, The Canadian Press