In a tight election race, Amelia Boutlbee of the B.C. Conservatives won the riding of Penticton-Summerland on Oct. 19, with close to 500 ballots separating her from her nearest competitor.

At 10:30 p.m., with 24 of 25 ballot boxes counted, Boultbee had received 11,420 votes, or 41.67 per cent support. Her closest competitor, Tina Lee of the New Democratic Party, received 10,945 votes, or 39.93 per cent support.

Boultbee said the race was tight throughout the evening.

鈥淚t was an emotional roller coaster,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t was a real nail-biter.鈥�

Now that the election has concluded, Boultbee said the focus will be to work on areas of concern.

鈥淧artisan politics is over. The election is over,鈥� she said. 鈥淔rom now on, we all need to work together to work on the issues in our communities.鈥�

She said her win shows that a grass-roots movement can work. 

Lee said the campaign was respectful and the voter turnout was high at advance polls and regular polls. She added that the campaign was respectful in the riding. 

鈥淚 think all candidates can hold their heads pretty high tonight,鈥� she said.

The New Democrats had a strong showing in the riding in this election, she added.

鈥淭his was as close as our riding has come in 30 years,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hile it鈥檚 not the outcome I wanted, I think we鈥檝e proven to folks that the NDP can be strong in the Interior.鈥�

Although there were six candidates in the race for the riding, more than 80 per cent of the votes were cast for Boultbee or Lee.

The other candidates were Bradley Bartsch of the Green Party, unaffiliated candidate Tracy St. Claire and independent candidates Roger Harrington and Anna Paddon.

St. Claire had earlier been set to run under the B.C. United banner, but in late September, just prior to the start of the election campaign, party leader Kevin Falcon announced the party would not field candidates. 

She received 2,660 votes, or 9.7 per cent support.

Bartsch had 1,435 votes, or 5.24 per cent support, Harrington finished with 812 votes or 2.96 per cent support and Paddon finished with 137 votes, or 0.5 per cent support.

In the last provincial election in 2020, Dan Ashton of the former B.C. Liberals  won the riding with 48.19 per cent of the vote. His closest rival was Toni Boot of the New Democratic Party, with 37.71 per cent support. 

Ashton was first elected to the region in 2013 and was re-elected in 2017 and 2020.

The Penticton region has had representatives of the B.C. Liberal party since the 1996 election. 

The last time a New Democrat represented the region was from 1991 to 1996 when Jim Beattie was the MLA and the riding was named Okanagan-Penticton.