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On Jan. 30 as many as 43,000 Nanaimo voters will take to the polls to elect a new MLA for Nanaimo, after longtime NDP MLA Leonard Krog vacated the seat in November to serve as mayor of the city.

Here are five things to know.

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Photo by JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Why it matters

B.C. is currently governed via a formal power-sharing agreement between the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Greens. This came about after the last provincial election when neither the NDP or the B.C. Liberals won enough seats to form government. The Greens had won three seats and after some heavy courting agreed to support the NDP. So the NDP-Green alliance has 44 seats and the Liberals 43.

If the NDP loses Nanaimo to the Liberals, the legislature would be tied at 43 votes between the Liberals and the NDP-Green power-sharing alliance. Speaker Darryl Plecas would need to break tie votes to decide on legislation, a situation that experts say is untenable for the long-term and would likely result in an early election.