Recount terminated in narrowly won riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam

Conservative Nelly Shin eked out a narrow victory over NDP candidate Bonita Zarrillo in Port Moody-Coquitlam. (Submitted)

VANCOUVER – A judicial recount that was granted in a B.C. riding won by fewer than 200 votes has been called off, meaning the winning Tory candidate will keep her seat.

In a statement, Elections Canada said the recount was terminated because of a request from the NDP candidate, who had originally asked for the recount. Elections Canada stated the request for withdrawal was received and accepted by Justice Nitya Iyer on Nov. 7.

Conservative candidate Nelly Shin won the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam with 153 votes more than NDP candidate Bonita Zarrillo in the Oct. 21 federal election. Liberal candidate Sara Badiei finished in third place 1,160 votes behind Shin.

The recount process in the riding had started on Wednesday.

"It just became apparent very early on that every vote was counted," said Zarrillo. "That was really the goal of this exercise was to just give confidence to the community that every vote had been counted."

The NDP previously said they had asked for the recount because the gap between Shin and Zarrillo had narrowed since election night, when the first- and second-place finishers were separated by more than 300 votes.

"The termination of these proceedings does not affect the results for the electoral district of Port Moody-Coquitlam, which were validated before the recount began," Elections Canada said in a statement.

Zarrillo is a current Coquitlam city councillor and said she is looking forward to getting back to work for her constituents.

The judicial recount in the riding of Quebec was also terminated on Nov. 7 following a request from the candidate who had asked for the recount. Liberal candidate Jean-Yves Duclos won the riding by 325 votes over Bloc Quebecois candidate Christiane Gagnon.