LNG lobbyist and former journalist Jas Johal can now comfortably add member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to his resume after Elections BC published its final count of the Richmond-Queensborough riding, showing he edged out NDP competitor Aman Singh by just 124 votes.
Johal ended up with 8,225 votes compared to Singh’s 8,101, after Elections BC counted 1,902 absentee ballots this week.
Johal previously held a 263 vote lead, after the initial count on election day, May 9.
There was some question as to the outcome of this riding and how it may affect the overall election picture.
By Tuesday afternoon, British Columbians seemed no closer to learning the outcome of the election, with Courtenay-Comox separated by just three votes. There, an initial count showed an NDP win, but following the start of absentee vote counting it flipped to favour the Liberals, giving that party a majority of seats. But should the two candidates be separated by less than 1/500 of the total votes, a judicial recount will be ordered by officials.
Singh still has the opportunity to request a judicial recount, if he can prove ballots were not counted correctly. Notably, Singh’s request for a recount of the initial vote was denied.
