The 1983 British Columbia general election was the 33rd provincial election for the province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. It was held to elect members of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

. The election was called on April 7, 1983. The election was held on May 5, 1983. The new legislature that resulted from this election met for the first time on June 23, 1983. The governing

Social Credit Party of British Columbia The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For f ...

was re-elected with a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats. ...

, defeating the opposition

New Democratic Party of British Columbia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

. The "Socreds" increased both their share of the popular vote almost half of all votes) and their number of seats in the legislature. No other parties other than the Socreds and the NDP won seats in the legislature. There were seven two-member constituencies in this election. Voters in these places were allowed two votes (block-voting), and generally used them both on the same party. None of these districts elected both a SC and a NDP MLA. All districts elected either two SC-ers (4 districts) or two NDP-ers (three districts), with no representation given to the minority vote in the district. This helped ensure the government's capture of the most seats. (It also makes the "popular vote," the votes cast, not truly reflective of the sentiment of the voters, due to some voters in these seven districts casting two votes and the voters in the other 43 districts casting only one.)

Results

Note: * Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results

See also

References

Further reading