-Conservatives fall just shy of majority government threshold-

OSOYOOS TIMES-October 15, 2008-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

After what started off as a close race with Conservative Party challenger and Oliver resident Rob Zandee, NDP incumbent Alex Atamanenko was re-elected to represent the B.C. Southern Interior riding in Ottawa.
According to Elections Canada, Atamanenko had secured 48 per cent of all votes in the riding by 11:30 p.m. on Election Day, Oct. 14.
He had won 48.96 per cent in the January 2006 federal election.
Zandee, the runner-up, had 35.4 per cent of all votes, Green Party candidate Andy Morel had 9.7 per cent and Brenda Jagpal of the Liberal Party had 6.8 per cent.
The total number of valid votes recorded at press time was 43,838.
When reached by phone during a victory celebration at the Portuguese Centre in Castlegar, Atamanenko said he was thankful to those who had voted for him and admitted he was anxious when he and Zandee were neck-and-neck in the polls at the beginning of the evening.
I was hoping I would pull ahead and eventually I did, he said.
On the national scene, it will be Round 2 for Stephen Harper's Conservatives as a minority government, although a larger one.
At press time, the Conservatives had been elected to 143 seats, only 12 shy of the majority threshold, the Liberals scored 77, the Bloc Quebecois 49, the NDP 37 and Independents had two.
The Conservatives won 124 of 308 seats in the 2006 federal election.
Atamanenko said returning to Ottawa to face another Conservative minority government wasn't his first choice, but he added that he would go back to work with his party to keep the government accountable.rnWhen asked his feelings on why the majority of voters in the riding had chosen to re-elect him, Atamanenko said he believed it was because he and his staff had worked hard to help people.
I've tried to be accessible, he said. I've tried to be non-partisan.
And I think that's reflected in the vote.rnnews@osoyoostimes.comrn