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The final votes are in, and Nicholas Simons will serve a fifth term as the NDP MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
Elections BC finished counting the mail-in and absentee ballots for the riding on Nov. 8, leaving Simons with 50.88 percent of the popular vote and a total of 12,701 votes cast. BC Green Party candidate Kim Darwin came in second with 8,104 votes (32.47 percent), and Sandra Stoddart-Hansen of the BC Liberals finished with 4,156 votes (16.65 percent).
The final tally left the NDP with 57 of the 87 seats in the legislature. The BC Liberals won 28 seats, but one seat in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky is subject to a judicial recount. The Greens, who were initially projected to win that riding, hold two seats.
The other major upset was in the riding of Vernon-Monashee, where the NDP defeated the Liberal incumbent by 424 votes in the final count.
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