NDP wins federal election in Chilliwack-Hope, according to students

Students in the Chilliwack-Hope electoral district voted quite a bit differently in the Student Vote Canada mock federal election compared to their 18-plus counterparts in the real vote Sept. 20.

Out of 3,725 votes cast at 31 schools in the riding, students chose the NDP’s DJ Pohl with 1,320 votes or 35.4 per cent over Conservative Mark Strahl’s 1,070 votes or 28.7 per cent.

Strahl was elected in the actual federal election on Sept. 20 with 46.4 per cent or 22,218 votes over Pohl’s 26.4 per cent or 12,640 votes.

READ MORE: Strahl re-elected in Chilliwack-Hope with fourth straight election win

READ MORE: Voter turnout in Chilliwack-Hope lowest since 2011

As for the other three candidates, students chose the Green Party’s Arthur Green in third with 543 votes or 14.6 per cent.

In fourth was People’s Party of Canada candidate Rob Bogunovic with 409 votes or 11 per cent.

In last was the Liberal’s Kelly Velonis with 383 votes or 10.3 per cent.

Across Canada, students elected a Liberal minority to fill the mock Parliament with 118 seats. Official opposition was the NDP with 106 seats followed by the Conservatives and 88 seats.

The Bloc Québécois took 21 seats and the Greens three. As in real life in the real election, students gave the People’s Party of Canada zero seats.

The local Student Vote numbers are posted online broken down by school, numbers that vary greatly between schools. As for high school students, Chilliwack Secondary School students chose the NDP’s Pohl over Conservative Strahl by a margin of 188 votes to 132, while Sardis Secondary students picked Pohl by a more than two-to-one margin over Strahl, 124 to 61.

Imagine High students picked Pohl with 47 per cent putting Green second with 27.5 per cent. G.W. Graham did not participate.

The independent schools voted quite differently. Unity Christian, a middle-high school, chose Strahl with nearly 60 per cent of votes, while Highroad Academy similarly picked Strahl with 58 per cent but also had the PPC’s Bogunovic in second with 19.9 per cent.

The Student Vote Canada is a project of CIVIX, a non-partisan, national charity that aims to build civic engagement in young Canadians. The Student Vote project for federal elections is presented in partnership with Elections Canada

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