Published by Clay Whitman, a lawyer in Vancouver, Canada.
Voting
The voting process is at the core of our system of representative democracy. The laws regarding who may vote and how that vote is exercised are of critical importance to the health of any democratic system of governance.
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Christy Clark wins BC Liberal Leadership Contest; Will Become next BC Premier
26 February 2011 | Voting, Election Finance
Christy Clark has won the British Columbia Liberal Party's leadership contest in the third round of counting and will become British Columbia's next premier.
For the leadership vote, the party used a voting system where each of B.C.'s 85 electoral districts were awarded a value of 100 points. The candidates received a number of points for each district equal to their share of the vote in each district, on the basis of a preferential ballot. The winning candidate was the one who received over 50% of the points.
After the first round, Christy Clark was in the lead with 37.7% of the points, with Kevin Falcon in second (28.37%), George Abbott in third (24.60%) and Mike de Jong in fourth (9.28%).
In the second round, Mike de Jong's votes were transferred to the second preference, and Christy Clark increased her share of points to 42.05%. Kevin Falcon remained in second with 30.17% and George Abbott was third with 27.78%.
In the third and final round, Christy Clark received 52% to Kevin Falcon's 48% and was elected leader.
Here are the full results by electoral district for the first, second and third rounds.
Now that the vote is complete, the candidates must turn their minds to their electoral finance obligations. According to section 211 of the Election Act (British Columbia), the leadership candidates must file a financing report with Elections BC within 90 days. The reports will include the contributions received and expenses incurred by each candidate, and will be publicly available.