The votes have been recounted and Dr. Brian Day is no longer guaranteed to become the next president of the organization representing B.C. physicians.

Day, the founder of the Cambie Surgery Centre, initially won by one vote over Dr. Alan Ruddiman, a general practitioner in Oliver. Ruddiman requested that the ballots be recounted.

Today, Doctors of B.C.'s CEO, Alan Seckel, issued a statement revealing that one vote was not counted.

"With that vote included, the result is a tie between Dr Brian Day and Dr Alan Ruddiman," Seckel stated.

A runoff election will be held from June 5 to June 18.

Doctors of B.C. has given no explanation why a vote was not counted in its election for its president in 2016.

Day is an orthopedic surgeon and a controversial figure in health circles for calling for an end to the single-payer public health insurance plan.

On May 30, the Oliver Daily News reported that Ruddiman "does not support Brian Day's push for more private involvement in the public health system, but admits the universal model could do more".

In the past, specialists and general practitioners have disagreed on where the organization should place its emphasis.

Day's website clearly focuses on his support for changing the system to open up more private funding and creating a parallel private system.

"A move to a private public partnership in health care, including a hybrid system similar to that in every other country that offers universal care, will increase funding and capacity," Day wrote. "There will be an absolute increase in funds. The efficiencies imposed on the public system by competition and a downsized bureaucracy will lead to a more effective system. I support a public system, but not when it is structured as a monopoly."

The first point on Ruddiman's website is the importance of championing "generalism in practice...while elevating awareness of the essential expertise of our specialists".

"We can and must do better to lead the Health Authorities in seeking solutions to ER gridlocks and hospital overcrowding," Ruddiman wrote. "We have the insight and the skill. Let us resolve to free up our ER and acute care beds and reclaim them as 'functional' acute beds, so we can ensure effective and timely care to ill, injured and disabled patients."