The 1871 British Columbia general election was held from October to December 1871. Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and election writs for the first general election as a province of Canada were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts). These ridings were:
Cariboo (three members) Comox (one member) Cowichan (two members) Esquimalt (two members) Kootenay (two members) Lillooet (two members) Nanaimo (one member) New Westminster (two members) New Westminster City (one member) Victoria (two members) Victoria City (four members) Yale (three members).
Polling conditions
The election was held from October through December 1871, and was conducted by means of a show of hands on nomination day and, if required, an open poll book on polling day. There were no organized political parties.
Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill. Where multiple members were elected, the seats were filled through plurality block voting; elsewhere, first-past-the-post voting was used.
Statistics
Votes: 3,804
Candidates: 46
Members: 25
Vancouver Island
Upper Island 310 votes, four seats (77.5 votes/seat) Comox: 24 votes (24 votes/seat) Cowichan: 196 votes (2 seats 98 votes/seat 49 voters/seat) Nanaimo: 90 votes (90 votes/seat) "Greater Victoria" 2,074 votes, eight seats (259.25 votes/seat): Victoria: 377 votes (2 seats 188.5 votes/seat 94.25 voters/seat) Victoria City: 1,515 (4 seats 378.75 votes/seat 169.3525 voters/seat) Esquimalt: 182 (2 seats 91 votes/seat 45.5 voters/seat)
Mainland: Interior 1,907 votes, ten seats (190.7 votes/seat): Cariboo: 785 votes (3 seats 261.67 votes/seat) Kootenay: 39 votes (2 seats 19.5 votes/seat) Lillooet: 102 votes (2 seats 51 votes/seat Yale: 171 votes (3 seats 57 votes/seat) Lower Mainland 686 votes (3 seats 228.67 votes/seat: New Westminster: 323 votes (2 seats 161.5 votes/seat) New Westminster City: unknown at this time (vote was by acclamation)_
Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population per se nor the total of the potential voters' list.
Results by riding
Note: There is no arrangement to the ridings and members, other than by rough alphabetical order, as all were technically independents. Actual seating of the House or political alignments are not represented.