List of British Columbia general elections

Number of seats won by major parties at each election

Elections to the unicameral legislative body of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, are held every four years. The establishment of fixed four-year terms for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia was instituted in 2002, after the Constitution (Fixed Election Dates) Amendment Act (SBC 2001 c.36) was passed in 2001. The regular election date for the Legislative Assembly is set to occur on the "second Tuesday in May in the fourth calendar year following the general voting day for the most recently held general election", with the next election scheduled for May 9, 2017.

The number of seats has increased over time, from 25 for the first election in 1871, to the current 85. Until the 1903 election, British Columbia politics were officially non-partisan – political parties were not part of the process. This began to change in the 1898 and 1900 elections with the appearance of party-designated candidates, and federal political parties were recognized in the provincial election of 1903. The first elections held along party lines (1903–41) were primarily contested by the Conservative Party (which won five elections during this period) and the Liberal Party (which won six elections). For two sessions during and immediately after World War II, the legislature was managed by a coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberals. The Social Credit Party dominated elections from 1952–86, winning eleven of the twelve elections. Provincial politics since 1986 have been dominated by the New Democratic Party which won two elections in the 1990s, and by the Liberal Party which has won every provincial election since 2001.

Summary of results

The table below shows the total number of seats won by the major political parties at each election since the recognition of political parties in British Columbia provincial elections in 1903. The winning party's total is shown in bold.

Notes

^A Includes results for the Progressive Conservatives from 1945

^B Includes results for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation up until 1961

^C Includes results for the Independent Labour candidates from 1928, 1933 and 1941.

^D Coalition between Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties.

Elections prior to provincial political parties

Year	Seats	Government	Non-Government
1871	25	No information available
1875	25	8	17
1878	25	8	17
1882	25	5	20
1886	27	19	8
1890	33	17	16
1894	33	20	13
1898	38	18	20
1900	38	6	32

Prior the 1903 election, political parties in British Columbia were not officially recognized in provincial elections. During this period, some candidates declared their support for the administration as "Government" candidates, while those not in support ran as "Non-Government" or Independent candidates. However, these pre-election alignments often did not persist once the House was seated as allegiances would frequently shift.

While there were no official party lines, there were unofficial yet unstable ones. Premiers Amor De Cosmos and Joseph Martin both sat, at various times, in the federal House of Commons as Liberals, while Premier Edward Gawler Prior sat in the House of Commons as a Conservative. There was also a clear grouping of members who would often sit in opposition to, or in the cabinet of, certain other premiers. De Cosmos and his unofficial Liberals mutually supported each other (i.e. were in each other's cabinets). These premiers included McCreight, Walkem, Bevean, Semlin, and Martin. Meanwhile, Premiers Prior, Dunsmuir, Turner, A.E.B. Davie, Robson, Theodore Davie, Smithe, and Elliot sat in each other's cabinets or otherwise supported one another; while premiers from one group often sat in opposition to premiers from the other.

See also

• List of premiers of British Columbia
• List of political parties in British Columbia
• List of British Columbia by-elections
• Most recent election: British Columbia general election, 2013 (40th)
• Future election: British Columbia general election, 2017 (41st)
• Timeline of Canadian elections

Bibliography

• "Electoral History of BC". Elections BC. Office of the Legislature of British Columbia. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
• "Electoral History of British Columbia 1871–1986" (pdf). Elections British Columbia. Victoria: Queen's Printer for British Columbia. 1988. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
• "Electoral History of British Columbia Supplement, 1987–2001" (pdf). Legislative Library, British Columbia. Victoria: Queen's Printer for British Columbia. 2002. Retrieved 2015-08-29.
• "Electoral History of British Columbia Supplement 2002–2013" (pdf). Elections BC and the Legislative Library of British Columbia. Victoria, B.C.: Elections BC and the Legislative Library of British Columbia. 2014. Retrieved 2015-08-29.