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B.C. says ‘no’ to Proportional Representation
British Columbians have said ‘no’ to Proportional Representation.
Voting results for the 2018 Referendum on Electoral Reform have been reported to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
A total of 1,403,358 completed voting packages were returned to Elections BC by the deadline of 4:30 p.m. on December 7, representing returns from 42.6% of registered voters.
Results:
Question 1: Which system should British Columbia use for provincial elections?
Of the validly cast votes in Question 1: 61.3% (845,235) supported the current First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system, and 38.7% (533,518) supported a proportional representation (PR) voting system.
Premier John Horgan has just provided the following statement about the vote.
“This year, British Columbians participated in an important conversation about the future of our democracy. People took part in the largest public engagement in B.C.’s history and gathered in communities around B.C. for town halls and discussions about how we vote in our province.
“British Columbians have now spoken and chosen to stick with the current voting system. This referendum was held because we believe that this decision needed to be up to people, not politicians. While many people, myself included, are disappointed in the outcome, we respect people’s decision,” the Premier said.
“British Columbians are passionate about our democracy. I want to thank everyone who turned out to vote in such strong numbers and express my gratitude to Elections BC for its work running a fair referendum that engaged people throughout B.C.
“Since forming government, we have been working to make life better for people. We’ve already banned big money and introduced tough new restrictions on lobbyists to put people back at the centre of our politics. There’s a lot more work to do, and our government is going to keep working with our partners in the B.C. Green caucus to make government work for people in B.C.,” Horgan concluded.
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