Election officials will begin counting the 681 votes yet to be tabulated in the tightly contested Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding on Saturday (Oct. 26). 

The votes remaining to be counted include an estimated 496 certification envelopes containing mail-in and assisted telephone votes as well as 185 certification envelopes containing special and absentee ballots.

Following the election night count Oct. 19, the B.C. NDP's Dana Lajeunesse held a 23-vote lead over B.C. Conservative Marina Sapozhnikov.  Lajeunesse finished with 8,942 votes (38.5%), followed by Sapozhnikov with 8,919 votes (38.4%) and David Evans of the B.C. Green Party with 5,345 votes (23%).

An estimated 65,000 absentee and mail-in ballots provincewide will be tallied from Saturday until Monday. That will be followed by a recount for the two ridings where the lead was under 100 votes, Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat.

The NDP was elected or leading in 46 ridings after the initial count, the Conservatives had 45, while the Greens won two.

Elections BC says results of the Surrey City Centre recount will be posted on its website on Sunday when it is complete, while the outcome from Juan De Fuca-Malahat will be posted Monday.