A closely contested race for political power in British Columbia still had no clear winner early Sunday after the vast majority of votes in the provincial election were counted, and a weakened incumbent party did little to hold off its main challenger late into the night .

With just over 96 percent of votes counted, the BC NDP and BC Conservatives were in a near dead heat.

The NDP was either elected or led in 46 rounds, while the Conservatives won or led in 45 rounds – each just one or two seats shy of the 47 needed to win a majority government.

The razor-thin result means the race comes down to final elections, out-of-precinct voting and mail-in voting. The latter are not expected to be fully counted until October 26th.

The delay in announcing the results came after an unusually hostile election campaign marked by the growing popularity of right-of-center Conservatives, who had sought to persuade a broad base of disaffected voters to reject the status quo after seven years of NDP rule .

Regardless of which party ultimately forms government, the close race will be viewed as a disappointing result for the once-dominant NDP and a once-unthinkable achievement for the emerging Conservatives.

“This was a very, very hard-fought election campaign and we knew every vote would count, and that was certainly the case,” NDP Leader David Eby told supporters shortly before 11:30 p.m. PT. “And it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer.”

VIEW | Eby asks fans for patience after a close race:

BC NDP leader David Eby addresses his supporters after the party lost several seats

Eby gave a speech to his supporters after a disappointing evening for his party.

Conservative leader John Rustad addressed his own crowd minutes earlier and said the election had been a “historic evening.”

“This was a night where we saw the political landscape in British Columbia changed forever… we have not given up this fight yet. We will continue to push hard.”

In a number of elections it is still too close, with fewer than a few hundred votes between the candidates.

Both Eby and Rustad retained their seats: Rustad was re-elected in Nechako Lakes, which he has held since 2005, and Eby won a fourth term in Vancouver–Point Gray.

VIEW | Rustad celebrates Conservative gains on tight election night:

John Rustad hails ‘historic night’ for British Columbia Conservatives

The winner of the BC election remained unclear late Saturday, but BC Conservative leader John Rustad said it was a great night for his party.

In a major blow to her party, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau lost her seat after leaving her Cowichan Valley seat to run for the first time in Victoria–Beacon Hill.

“It was a great honor to be an MLA,” an emotional Furstenau later told fans gathered in the capital. Her voice was hoarse after battling a cold last weekend. “It’s not the result we were hoping for in Victoria–Beacon Hill tonight, but I’m so proud of the campaign we ran.”

Otherwise, the Greens led in two rounds. With the two leading parties each struggling to achieve a majority, Fürstenau said the party could potentially play a “decisive role” in the next government.

VIEW | Fürstenau thanks supporters and family after election defeat:

The Greens will continue to play a “decisive role,” says leader Sonia Furstenau, despite losing her seat

British Columbia Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau addresses her supporters after failing to win the Victoria-Beacon Hill race in the provincial election.

BC faced similar uncertainty following the 2017 provincial election, when election night ended with another too-close race between the NDP and the then-BC Liberals.

Former Liberal leader Christy Clark promised to lead a minority government after the race, but resigned weeks later after losing a no-confidence vote. The NDP’s John Horgan became prime minister after signing a confidence and supply agreement with the support of the legislature’s three Green MPs.

Together, the two parties had a total of 44 seats – the minimum required for a majority at the time.

Remarkable conservative rise

The main focus of the election campaign was whether the Conservatives could make a stunning political rise and topple Eby’s NDP or whether the incumbent party could retain its leadership power in the legislature.

When it was dissolved in the fall, the NDP had a clear majority with 55 seats in parliament. The BC United party served as the official opposition with 20 seats, but did not field any candidates in the election after suspending its campaign to gain support for the emerging BC Conservatives – who held only eight seats before the election.

The Greens had two seats and two seats were held by independents. A record 40 independents participated in the election this year, but none of them won any of their races.

The majority of NDP cabinet ministers retained their seats, including Health Minister Adrian Dix in Vancouver-Renfrew, Labor Minister Brenda Bailey in Vancouver-South Granville and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon in Delta North.

If Rustad’s party takes power, the province will have its first conservative government in nearly a century. If Eby’s party wins, the province will have its fourth consecutive NDP government.

Regardless of the final result, Rustad’s unlikely rise was a remarkable story in British Columbia politics.

Rustad, 61, became party leader after being kicked out of the opposition, then known as the BC Liberals, over his views on climate change. In just two years he led the young Conservatives to a level of prominence that bankrupted his old party, which had disastrously renamed itself BC United.

The Conservatives and NDP fielded candidates in each of the province’s 93 constituencies, while the Fürstenau Greens had 69 candidates. The 40 independent candidates included six high-profile sitting MLAs.

Voting results came quicker than usual because Elections BC is using a new electronic voting system to count ballots. However, the process did not go smoothly: In Surrey–Cloverdale, one of the province’s closest battlegrounds, results were delayed due to a problem with a password needed to tabulate votes.

More than a million people voted ahead of a rainy Election Day, setting a record number for early voting in the province. Automatic recounts will take place in precincts where the top two candidates are separated by 100 votes or less. The recounts are scheduled for October 26th, 27th and 28th.