The federal Conservatives’ parachute candidate captured the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam tonight, winning the seat formerly occupied by NDP MP Fin Donnelly in what was a tight three-way race all evening.
With all 204 polls counted, Nelly Shin has captured 31.3% of the votes to NDP candidate Bonita Zarrillo’s 30.7% (16,588 to 16.255) after Zarrillo had opened up a 300-vote lead earlier in the evening. Sara Badiei, the Liberal candidate, finished with 29.1% of votes cast (15,409) after being within a half a percentage point of the lead earlier.
Speaking around 11:30 p.m. Monday, Shin said she wanted to wait until the final votes were counted but said she was happy with the results as they were.
"Obviously, it is nailbiting," Shin said, adding, “I am just grateful for the people around me."
Shin went on to congratulate all of the candidates in the riding: "We have all succeeded. As you saw, it was a tight race. Every team, every candidate ran a really good race. I am very happy with the result even as they are now. I am so proud of my team."
Zarrillo, who earlier, when Shin opened up a lead, said she was hopeful, later called her opponent to congratulate her.
And when the final poll numbers came in, Shin’s supporters sang “O, Canada.”
Shin, who moved to B.C. from Ontario to run in the riding, will join the official opposition after the Liberals won 156 seats to the Tories’ 122. The Bloc Quebecois won 32 seats, the NDP 24 and the Greens 3. Independent Jody Wilson Raybould also won re-election in Vancouver-Granville.
