Acton backs Sandhu

In Vernon-Lumby, there’s just 385 votes between the top two contenders for the MLA position – one defeated candidate is hoping for a local win.

Independent candidate Kevin Acton ended up with 15.47 per cent of the vote. While the race didn’t go the way he’d hoped, he said late Saturday night that he hopes NDP incumbent Harwinder Sandhu wins her seat back.

“I'm happy to see Harwinder is [in the lead], she's a community representative. She's been here and lives in the community, so I hope she keeps representing us in a good way,” said Acton.

“I'll be honest, I didn't expect to come out way ahead of the race, but I certainly thought people were more interested in having something that was more for the community,” said Acton.

The race between Sandhu and the BC Conservative Dennis Giesbrecht, who was parachuted into the riding from Kamloops, is close with neither candidate willing to declare or concede on Saturday night.

Elections BC says the election's final results will likely remain unknown for another week, and automatic recounts taking place Oct. 26 to 28.

An automatic recount is triggered when top candidates have less than 100 votes between them.

As for Acton and what’s next, he’s still the Mayor of Lumby and a director with the Regional District of North Okanagan.

“I'll keep working, serving the community and doing the best I can. We'll see what happens,” said Acton.

“This is a very close government, and we'll see what happens in Victoria over the next couple of weeks. It’s going to be interesting to see who forms government in what fashion. Maybe we'll be back at it in six months.”

As of late Saturday night preliminary results show neither the NDP nor Conservatives with a majority government.

-with files from Colin Dacre