If B.C. students called the shots, the results of last night's election would have been very different.
The results of Student Vote – which organizes parallel elections for students under the voting age that coincide with the official election – saw an NDP majority in the province, and different results for two of Abbotsford's three ridings.
On Tuesday night, the Liberals formed a government with 50 seats, while the NDP stayed in opposition with 33 seats. One Green candidate and one independent were also elected to the legislature.
But, based on over 100,000 student votes from elementary and high schools across the province in a mock election, the NDP would have taken a large majority, with 54 seats and 38.6 per cent of the popular vote, while the Liberals would have taken 20 seats at 28.1 per cent of the vote.
In the general election, all three ridings went to Liberal candidates – Darryl Plecas in Abbotsford South, Michael de Jong in Abbotsford West and Simon Gibson in Abbotsford-Mission.
In Abbotsford South, students' mock votes re-elected independent candidate John van Dongen, with six schools registered for voting. In Abbotsford West, NDP candidate Sukhi Dhami would have taken the seat from incumbent Michael de Jong after 12 schools voted. In Abbotsford-Mission, Liberal candidate Simon Gibson would have won the seat.