TORONTO, April 20 (UPI) -- A center-right split allowed Canada's socialist New Democratic Party to land victories in two British Columbia provincial by-elections, the premier said.
The NDP scored a clear win in Chilliwack-Hope where a left-wing party has never won and in Port Moody-Coquitlam, The Globe and Mail of Toronto reported Friday.
Liberals won handily in both Chilliwack-Hope and Port Moody-Coquitlam in 2009. These by-elections showed a paradigm shift in B.C. politics specifically because both the NDP and Conservative candidates in the Port Moody-Coquitlam race were former Liberals, the Globe and Mail said.
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, a Liberal, said the decisive win by the leftist NDP displayed a split of the right-of-center vote among liberals and conservatives.
"It's never been clearer that only a unified free enterprise coalition can defeat the NDP," Clark said.
The by-election or special election fight for provincial legislative seats is seen as a jockeying for position prior to the May provincial general election.
