Conservative Scott Anderson's electoral victory on Monday coincided with a strong voter turnout in Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee.
The newly formed riding saw a turnout of 67,093, or 72.78 per cent of registered voters, in its first federal election April 28 after Elections Canada reported the counting of all 239 ballot boxes had been completed.
That's a step above the nationwide turnout. Close to 19.6 million Canadians voted in this election, which is good for a turnout of 68.69 per cent.
With 33,852 ballots in his favour, Anderson captured 50.5 per cent of the vote in Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee, beating out runner-up Liberal candidate Anna Warwick Sears by more than 5,000 votes.
Anderson won the riding despite minimal vote-splitting among left-of-centre candidates on the ballot. NDP candidate Leah Main finished with just 3,422 votes (5.1 per cent) and Green candidate Blair Visscher earned a mere 1,105 votes (1.6 per cent).
The local voter turnout this time around was also much stronger than in the previous federal election in 2021, when the North Okanagan-Shuswap riding had a turnout of 65.2 per cent of the 111,599 eligible voters — though turnout in that election may have been dampened by the COVID-19 pandemic which was ongoing at the time.
Warwick Sears' 28,714 votes represented 42.8 per cent of the votes in the riding. In a post on the Liberal Party's Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee Facebook page, she congratulated Liberal leader Mark Carney on winning the election and remaining Canada's prime minister, now with a mandate from voters.
"While this wasn’t the local result we had hoped for, we’re proud of the victories we achieved elsewhere — and we owe it all to our amazing volunteers. Your hard work, commitment, and passion were inspiring. Thank you for being part of this movement!" reads the statement attributed to Warwick Sears and her team.
Warwick Sears also congratulated Anderson on her personal Facebook page on Tuesday, wishing him "the best in his new role representing our riding in Ottawa."
