A Vancouver city councillor says New Democrats have more in common with Greens than what the latter have with B.C. Liberals.

That’s why Tim Stevenson is very hopeful that the B.C. NDP and Green Party will be able to work together in a new government following the closely contested May 9 election.

“I think that they will be able to make a coalition,” Stevenson told the Georgia Straight at the Vancouver Convention Centre, where New Democrats gathered on election night.

The final tally has yet to be determined with a count of the absentee ballots and recounts in certain electoral districts.

Preliminary results show Premier Christy Clark and her B.C. Liberals securing 43 seats, one count short of the required majority of 44. New Democrats got 41, and the Greens, three.

Stevenson was a former B.C. NDP MLA, who represented the old Vancouver-Burrard constituency. He was elected in 1996, and served until 2001.

“We’re much closer on core issues like the environment,” he said about New Democrats and Greens.

According to Stevenson, these include that go beyond the environment.

One common ground he cited is electoral reform.

The Greens under Andrew Weaver have promised to do away with the current first-past-the-post system, and bring in proportional representation.

B.C. NDP leader John Horgan has declared that he will hold a referendum within the first two years of an NDP government on changing the electoral system to another option.

Another area cited by Stevenson is electoral finance reform.

In September last year, the Greens banned corporate and union donations.

The B.C. NDP, for its part, has promised to do the same if elected.

“The whole finance reform, the Greens and the NDP are very close that Christy Clark can never offer that,” Stevenson said.

Clark, for her part, has worked well in the past with Weaver.

Her government has banned workplace requirements that require women to wear high heels, a move credited to Weaver’s initiative.

The province also passed legislation requiring universities to have sexual misconduct policies, a measure based on a private-members bill by Weaver.

During the campaign, Weaver said in a media interview that Horgan needs to control his temper.

According to Weaver, Horgan has “exploded” on him “multiple times” in the past.

“I want to work with him, I really do, and I’ve tried and I’ve continued to try but he’s got to control his temper. Honestly, he really does because he doesn’t bring people to want to work with him,” Weaver said in a Global BC interview. “Whereas the premier [Christy Clark], you can have a respectful disagreement in a one-on-one conversation and it’s not personal.”