1996 British Columbia general election

The 1996 British Columbia general election was the 36th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 30, 1996,^[2] and held on May 28, 1996. Voter turnout was 59.1 per cent of all eligible voters. The election is notable for producing a "false-winner" outcome, rewarding a party that got second in the popular vote with a majority government.

1996 British Columbia general election

← 1991 May 28, 1996 2001 →
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75 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 38 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	71.50%[1] 3.57 pp
First party Second party   Leader Glen Clark Gordon Campbell Party New Democratic Liberal Leader since 1996 1993 Leader's seat Vancouver Kingsway Vancouver-Point Grey Last election 51 seats 17 seats Seats won 39 33 Seat change 12 16 Popular vote 624,395 661,929 Percentage 39.45 41.82 Swing 1.26 8.58   Third party Fourth party   Ref PDA Leader Jack Weisgerber Gordon Wilson Party Reform Progressive Democrat Leader since 1995 1993 Leader's seat Peace River South Powell River-Sunshine Coast Last election 0 seats pre-creation Seats won 2 1 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 146,734 90,797 Percentage 9.27 5.74 Swing 9.09 5.74
Premier before election Glen Clark New Democratic Premier after election Glen Clark New Democratic

New Democratic Party leader and provincial premier Mike Harcourt had resigned as the result of a fundraising scandal involving one of the members of his caucus. Glen Clark was chosen by the party to replace Harcourt. Clark led the party to a second majority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Gordon Campbell, who had become leader of the Liberal Party after Gordon Wilson had been forced out of the position because of his relationship with another Liberal member of the legislature, Judi Tyabji.

After Wilson was defeated by Campbell in the convention to choose a new leader, he and Tyabji left the Liberal Party to establish the Progressive Democratic Alliance. Wilson was able to win re-election, but Tyabji was not, who went down to defeat with all of the other candidates fielded by the new party.

The once-dominant Social Credit Party collapsed. It elected Grace McCarthy as its leader in 1993, but she was unable to make a bid to get into the legislature until 1994, when she lost a by-election in the longtime Socred stronghold of Matsqui. Soon afterward, four of its remaining six members defected to Reform BC, leaving Social Credit without official status in the legislature. One more seat was lost in a by-election, reducing the party's representation to one MLA, Cliff Serwa. Serwa retired before the election, however, leaving the party with no incumbents. Party leader Larry Gillanders withdrew from the race while the campaign was in progress, saying that all right-wing parties should unite to topple the ruling NDP. The Socreds won only 0.4% of the vote and were completely shut out of the legislature. While the party still nominally exists, it has never elected another MLA and even lost its registration from 2013 to 2016.

Reform BC held on to two of its four seats.

Although the Liberals won the largest share of the popular vote, most of their votes were wasted in the outer regions of the province, and it won only 8 seats in the Vancouver area. That allowed the NDP to win 6 more seats than the opposition Liberals, eking out a majority government. This was the last election to return an NDP majority until 2020, 24 years later.