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VICTORIA – Premier Christy Clark watched her best hope for a majority Liberal government slip away in Courtenay-Comox Wednesday, leaving her weakened party at serious risk of being toppled by its political opponents in the legislature.

Clark’s B.C. Liberals failed to win the crucial riding of Courtenay-Comox after a count of 2,077 absentee ballots concluded Wednesday.

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Instead, the NDP’s Ronna-Rae Leonard expanded her nine-vote lead from election night May 9 to finish with a 189-vote victory over Liberal candidate Jim Benninger.

The riding could yet go to a judicial recount, a process that would delay official results by as much as two weeks.

But it appears likely the closest election in recent B.C. memory has concluded with 43 seats for the B.C. Liberals and 41 for the NDP, with the B.C. Greens holding the balance of power with three seats.

Green Leader Andrew Weaver, who now controls much of the political power in the province, said he feels a “burden of responsibility” to decide by as early as next Wednesday which party he’ll support in order to provide “stability” to the province.