A slim federal election margin for Conservative Nelly Shin in the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam is downright skinny now, according to numbers newly validated by Elections Canada.
On election night, it was reported Shin had won the seat by 333 voters over her closest competitor, the NDP's Bonita Zarrillo, but that margin has now been more than cut in half, leaving the newly-elected MP with a margin of victory of 153 votes.
The revised numbers, which have been validated by an Elections Canada returning officer, make it the closest race in the country along with the Yukon Territory, which was won by the same margin, though with less than half the eligible voters of Port Moody-Coquitlam.
(The only riding that could turn out to be closer is Quebec, in Quebec City, where preliminary results had the Liberal candidate winning by 215 votes over the Bloc Quebecois competitor. Final numbers are expected Monday.)
After the revision, Shin's total rose by 267 votes while Zarrillo's jumped by 447 and Liberal Sarah Badiei's went up by 286.
Still, Shin's 153-vote margin does not reach the 0.1% threshold that would automatically trigger a recount.
Of the riding’s 82,048 eligible voters, 54,519, or about 66%, turned up to the polls. Elections Canada rejected 516 ballots.
In the neighbouring riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, the final results also changed, although incumbent Liberal MP Ron McKinnon’s lead got wider, if only slightly, from an initial 339 votes to 390 votes.
McKinnon picked up an extra 564 votes post-revision while the total of his closest challenger, Conservative Nicholas Insley, grew by 513 votes; the NDP's Christina Gower, who placed third, had her total jump by 310 votes.
In Coquitlam-PoCo riding, 63% of voters turned out to the polls and 314 ballots were rejected.
Among the other tightest races in the country, nearly all of them were between Grit and Tory candidates, save for a few close Quebec ridings pitting Liberals against the Bloc Quebecois.
