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The quick read: Kelowna Centre is still undecided. Conservative Kristina Loewen leads NDP challenger Loyal Wooldridge by just 132 votes, with mail-in and absentee ballots still to be counted in Elections BC's final count from November 6 to 10. Whoever wins, the provincewide result is settled: the Conservatives won a majority. But this one seat is not final yet.

Kelowna Centre is going down to the wire again.

Conservative Kristina Loewen leads NDP challenger Loyal Wooldridge by 132 votes on the initial count: 10,791 to 10,659.

That count is not final.

Elections BC's final count runs November 6 to 10, when vote-by-mail, assisted telephone and absentee ballots are added.

We have seen this movie before

This is the same matchup as 2024, when Loewen and Wooldridge finished just 40 votes apart after a judicial recount.

Back then, Loewen led by 149 votes after the initial count, saw that lead shrink to 38 at the final count, and finished 40 votes ahead after the court recount.

A judicial recount is automatic under B.C.'s Election Act if the final margin falls below one five-hundredth of the ballots considered, and a candidate can also apply for one after official results are declared.

Nobody should call Kelowna Centre settled until the final count is done.

What is settled, and what is not

The provincewide picture is not in doubt: voters elected a Conservative majority government on October 24, ending nine years of NDP rule.

What the final count will decide in Kelowna Centre is who represents this riding, and by how much.

Ten ridings across B.C. finished election night within 500 votes, so Kelowna is not alone in waiting.

Why this matters

A 132-vote lead in a riding of more than 22,000 ballots is a reminder that every vote counts, and that close races deserve a careful, by-the-book count rather than a rushed declaration.

Kelowna Centre voters have now delivered two cliffhangers in a row.

The system should take the time to get this one right, and both campaigns should accept the final count when it comes.

Sources: Elections BC results via BC Ballot, October 26, 2026; The Canadian Wire, October 31, 2026; Kelowna's 103-1 Beach Radio, October 25, 2026.

Photo credit: Photo by Edmond Dantès on Pexels