Final votes counted in Okanagan ridings

Elections Canada has completed the mail-in vote counting for the North Okanagan-Shuswap (NOS) riding, and others in the valley.

The agency says 69,778 of the 111,599 registered electors (62.53 percent) in NOS cast a ballot in the Sept. 20 federal election which does not include electors who registered on election day.

The engagement was down from the 2019 federal election when 74,594 people voted in the riding which was a 69.25 per cent turnout.

The final results show Conservative Mel Arnold defeated runner-up Ron Johnston of the NDP by 19,205 votes. It was Arnold’s third term since his first win in 2015.

Shelley Desautels of the Liberals was third, 337 votes behind Johnston.

Kyle Delfing of the People’s Party went from 2.73 per cent of the votes in 2019, to a 10.1 per cent share in 2021, an increase of more than 5,000 votes.

North Okanagan-Shuswap riding results, courtesy of Elections Canada

(Image courtesy of Elections Canada)

In the Kelowna-Lake Country riding, voter turnout was 64.2 per cent, with Conservative Tracy Gray defeating Liberal Tim Krupa by 12,860 votes, a second term for the former Kelowna city councillor.

In Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, turnout was even lower at 61.1 per cent, with Conservative Dan Albas winning a fourth term by a 13,743 vote margin over Sarah Eves of the Liberals.

Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding (Image credit: Elections Canada)

The preliminary national turnout was 59 per cent which was prior to the mail-in ballots being counted.

In 2019, 67 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot and 68.3 per cent showed up at the polls in 2015, the first win for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.