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Green Party of British Columbia

The Green Party of British Columbia received over 10% of the vote in the May 2001 provincial election but elected no members.

The GP of BC's main competitor for members and votes is the BC New Democratic Party, which often accuses it of 'splitting the vote' and electing members of the BC Liberal Party. There is some validity to this accusation, since under the electoral system presently in effect in BC, the three-way split reduced the BC New Democrats below the number of seats (four) required for official party status and access to funds for staff and research. Although it could have granted the NDP (or some joint opposition composed of the NDP and other parties such as the Greens) this official party status, Premier Gordon Campbell chose not to do so, in effect leaving British Columbia with no official opposition whatsoever.

The GP of BC is particularly strong in lower mainland BC, where leader Adrianne Carr and former punk musician Joe Keithley (of the D.O.A) ran, and each received over 25% of the vote. As with the Green Party of the United States, the BC Greens seem to get support from both career activists and political figures from the arts.

See also: Green Party of Canada, BC New Democratic Party, BC Liberal Party.