Liberal candidate wins Milton East-Halton Hills South riding by 21 votes after official recount

A judge has certified the elections results for Milton East-Halton Hills South.

An official recount has certified the results of the federal election in Milton East-Halton Hills South.

The recount concluded on Friday, confirming Liberal candidate Kristina Tesser Derksen as the winner. She will now serve as the riding’s MP.

Tesser Derksen received 32,178 votes while Conservative candidate Parm Gill, who was named the winner on election night based on preliminary result, received 32,157 votes.

Only 21 votes separated the candidates.

According to the results of the recount, 66,685 valid votes were cast and 328 ballots were rejected.

Why was there a recount?

An official recount is automatically triggered when the difference between the first- and second- place candidates are within one one-thousandth of the total number of ballots received.

On May 2, validated results from Elections Canada flipped the riding from blue to red and suggested the Liberal candidate had won by only 29 votes. The validated results also indicated there were 412 rejected ballots in the riding.

The recount narrowed Tesser Derksen’s lead and fewer ballots were rejected.

Justice Leonard Ricchetti of the Superior Court of Ontario was in charge of the official recount.