NDP closer to winning majority after overturning Conservative lead ...

The B.C. NDP's lead over the B.C. Conservatives in the riding of Surrey-Guildford has increased by a handful of votes, possibly enough to pave the way to the party forming a majority government. 

Surrey-Guildford incumbent Garry Begg currently holds a 17-vote advantage over Conservative rival Honveer Singh Randhawa.

If the results stand, it gives the NDP the magic total of 47 seats — the number required to form a majority government.

Shortly after 2 p.m. PT Monday, CBC News projected that the NDP will form government. But if it can't hold on to its current lead in Surrey-Guildford it will be looking at a minority, which would hand the balance of power to the B.C. Green Party. 

The NDP has been elected in 46 ridings and is leading in one, with the Conservatives elected in 43 and leading in one. The Greens have been elected in two ridings.

Elections B.C. has been posting new results every hour as it counted about 22,000 absentee ballots on Monday morning. Results are being posted to CBC News B.C. Votes 2024 page as they become available.

As of 3 p.m. PT, a call has yet to be made in one other riding: Courtenay-Comox, where Conservative Brennan Day leads the NDP's Ronna-Rae Leonard by 91 votes.

At the same time as CBC News projected an NDP government, it projected wins for NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, and for Conservative candidate Kristina Loewen in Kelowna Centre.

Earlier, CBC News has projected that Conservative Lawrence Mok will win the riding of Maple Ridge East, flipping it from the NDP.

Meanwhile, the NDP is projected to win in Surrey City Centre, where Amna Shah has a lead of 229 votes over Conservative Zeeshan Wahla.

WATCH | Elections B.C. explains today's count: 

British Columbia's chief electoral officer, Anton Boegman, breaks down how vote-counting in B.C. works, from mail-in ballots to judicial recounts.

Judicial recounts could still take place after that if the margin in a riding is less than 1/500th of all votes cast.

For example, in the closest race of Surrey-Guildford, where an estimated 19,306 votes were cast, the margin for a judicial recount is about 38 votes or fewer.

Judicial recounts are overseen by a B.C. Supreme Court justice and, according to the B.C. Election Act, must take place within 15 days after the declaration of the official election results.

WATCH | How CBC News calls an election: 

The winner of the 2024 B.C. election will be decided on Monday, with the tallying of around 22,000 absentee votes, after an updated count of mail-in ballots over the weekend failed to produce a clear winner. Officials spent Saturday and Sunday counting the approximately 44,000 mail-in ballots that were sent in after the close of advance voting, but said they weren't enough to give a definitive answer.