Nearly 60 percent of British Columbian voters cast ballots to change the government.

But with the B.C. Liberals leading in the seat count, Christy Clark says her party has "a responsibility to move forward and form a government".

“The final result reinforces that British Columbians want us to work together, across party lines, to get things done for them," Clark said in a statement released at 4:30 p.m. “Our priority is to protect our strong economy and to manage B.C.’s finances responsibly, while listening closely to British Columbians on how we address important social and environmental priorities and how we can make B.C. politics more responsive, transparent, and accountable."

Elections B.C. has announced that at the conclusion of the final count of absentee ballots, the B.C. Liberals have 43 seats compared to 41 for the NDP and three for the B.C. Greens. No party has secured a majority of seats.

The B.C. Liberals won 40.36 percent of the votes, compared to 40.28 percent for the NDP and 16.84 percent for the B.C. Greens.

NDP Leader John Horgan will speak to reporters at 5 p.m. and B.C. Green Leader Andrew Weaver will be available to the media at 5:30 p.m.

According to Elections B.C., applications for judicial recounts must be filed within six days after the final count has been completed.

"There will be no automatic judicial recounts," it stated in a news release. "The district electoral officer must apply for a judicial recount if the difference between the top two candidates is less than 1/500 of the total ballots considered, or if there is a tie. No electoral districts meet this criteria."