Liberals squeak out 'Boro win

The NDP may not have won Richmond-Queensborough, but New Democrat candidate Aman Singh calls it a victory nonetheless.

Singh was narrowly defeated by B.C. Liberal candidate Jas Johal, who got 263 more votes than Singh, but for much of the evening it was a neck-and-neck race between the two frontrunners in Richmond-Queensborough.

“We knew it was going to be tight. It’s a new riding, and the mood in 2013 was different from the mood from 2017 – every election cycle is very different,” Johal said.

Out of the gate, there was a margin of 20 votes between the two candidates. As the results from more polls came in, the divide grew and at one point Johal had a 400-plus lead on Singh.

“I was pretty resigned at that point and then it changed dramatically, and it jumped 200, 300. It got pretty close,” he said.

By the time the 76th poll was counted, the gap between Singh and Johal had narrowed to 175 votes. It would take all night – and a count of all 87 polls – before Johal was declared the winner with 7,525 votes over Singh’s 7,262 votes, according to preliminary results from Elections B.C.

“I think this is a victory to come this close,” Singh said.

“They’ve had a stronghold in Richmond for 42 years and to come this close, we increased the NDP percentage I think by 10.4 per cent.”

This was the first election for Richmond-Queensborough, which was created two years ago by merging the old riding of Richmond East with Queensborough on the eastern tip of Lulu Island – splitting New Westminster residents into two ridings.

Johal started his campaign last fall. He quit his job, a necessity, he said, to make sure he connected with residents in the riding.

“I wanted to make sure I talked to residents in an honest, forthright way and the only way to really do that is meeting them at the doorstep and meeting people,” he said.

Official election results aren’t expected until after May 25 (poll-by-poll results will come sometime in June). It’s anyone’s guess whether the remaining absentee ballots to be counted will push the NDP to the 100-vote or fewer margin needed to instigate a recount. Either way, Singh is happy with the results as they stand now and said folks can expect to see him running in another provincial election.

“I’m pretty proud of my team – that we were able to come within less than 300 votes,” he told the Record. “I think we’ve started building something, and I’ll keep on building on that.”

For Johal, the next two weeks will require some patience. Depending on the outcome of the absentee ballot count and three possible recounts, the Liberals could end up with a majority or a minority government.

“The plans will be decided when the final numbers are in, but beyond that I guess from there we’ll have to decide where to set up an office, making sure you set up a schedule, hire staff, all those types of things – so I’ll be busy with that,” he said.

Richmond-Queensborough results (preliminary):

Jas Johal, B.C. Liberals: 7,525 (41.74%)

Aman Singh, B.C. NDP: 7,262 (40.2%)

Michael Wolfe, B.C. Greens: 2,311 (12.82%)

Kay Khilvinder Hale, B.C. Conservatives: 635 (3.52%)

Lawrence Chen, Republican Party: 294 (1.63%)

Total votes: 18,027

Registered voters: 35,146

Unofficial turnout: 51.29%