B.C. Premier Christy Clark defied poll predictions and led the BC Liberals to victory Tuesday night, but she failed to keep her own seat.
The incumbent Liberals won a decisive majority throughout the province -- the Liberals' fourth consecutive win and Clark's first as leader.
The victory came as a shock to many. The NDP, under party leader Adrian Dix, had been widely expected to unseat the Liberals after months of polls predicting an NDP win. Many polls showed the NDP with a lead of as much as 20 per cent before the campaign began.
That all changed Tuesday night when vote results started coming in, with the Liberals chalking up wins in ridings they already held and even stealing a few from the NDP against all expectations.
By the end of the night, the Liberals had increased their hold from 45 to at least 50 seats in the legislature.
"Well, that was easy," a beaming Clark joked with supporters at the Liberal victory party in downtown Vancouver.
"Tonight, we have received a mandate from the people of British Columbia, and I say to the citizens of British Columbia: you have humbled us tonight with this opportunity and the tremendous obligation you placed on our shoulders. We will honour what you have bestowed on us, and together we will make British Columbia better."
However, it wasn't all good news for the Liberals. Clark herself was defeated in her riding of Vancouver-Point Grey by NDP candidate David Eby, who won by 785 votes.
If the results stand, the BC Liberals have the option of asking a newly-elected MLA to step aside so Clark can run again in a byelection.
That's how Clark last got into the B.C. legislature -- a byelection in Vancouver-Point Grey on May 11, 2011.
Dix, who was considered by many to have the win in the bag going into election night, didn't address the reasons for the stunning loss in his concession speech Tuesday night but instead focused on the future.
"We have elected a very strong team that's going to hold the government accountable," Dix said.
"This party's determination to bring change will continue. We've brought change because we connect with people. We brought change because we fight for a better society -- and we are going to continue to do just that."
Dix didn't address his own future, but after such a stunning defeat in an election that was considered his for the taking, questions are swirling around his future as party leader.
Clark said Tuesday night she was waiting for official results to come in in her riding before she made any decisions about how to go forward.
"I don't know what's going to happen in my riding -- let's wait and see when all the polls come in," she told reporters.
"There was a pretty significant advanced poll in that riding, so really, I don't know what the results are going to be."
The Liberals took an early lead Tuesday night when results started to come in, and stayed out front for the rest of the evening. Liberal candidates won in two bellwether Kamloops-area ridings and two Fraser Valley seats the party had lost in byelections last year. They also stole a seat from veteran New Democrat Harry Lali in Fraser-Nicola in the Fraser Canyon.
Clark wasn't the only leader to lose their seat. While Dix held onto his, Conservative Leader John Cummins was defeated in Langley, where Liberal cabinet minister Mary Polak held onto the seat.
And Green Leader Jane Sterk lost in the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill to NDP incumbent Carole James.
Some people close to the Liberal campaign said they weren't shocked by the results despite polls and public opinion leading up to the vote.
"There were some signals that such a result was possible over the last year and a half," Barry Penner, a long-time Liberal and former cabinet minister who left politics in 2011, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"At no time did support for the NDP register greater than 50 per cent in major public opinion polls. Even at the lowest ebb for the B.C. Liberal party, the public was not wildly enthusiastic for Adrian Dix or the NDP. That was a signal that the public was not falling in love with the NDP."
