2020 British Columbia general election
provincial election in Canada
The 2020 British Columbia general election was held on October 24, 2020, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly to serve in the 42nd parliament of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The incumbent New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) won a majority government, making John Horgan the first leader in the history of the BC NDP to win a second consecutive term as premier. The incoming Legislature marked the first time the NDP commanded an outright majority government in BC since the 1996 election, as well as the first province-wide popular vote win for the party since 1991.
Horgan called a snap election on September 21, 2020, the first early election in the province since the 1986 election. Horgan argued the call for an election a year before it was due was necessary because he was governing with a minority of seats in the Legislative Assembly. His decision was criticized by both the NDP's confidence and supply partner, the British Columbia Green Party, and the province's Official Opposition, the British Columbia Liberal Party, as opportunistic.
Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson resigned two days after the election but remained as leader until November 23.
Background
This election took place under first-past-the-post rules, as proportional representation had been rejected with 61.3% voting against it in the 2018 referendum.
Section 23 of British Columbia's Constitution Act provides that general elections occur on a fixed date of the fourth calendar year after the last election. The fixed election date was previously set for the second Tuesday in May – tentatively making the next election date May 12, 2021, but the BC NDP passed legislation in 2017 amending the section of the constitution to change the fixed election date to the third Saturday in October.
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