A tight race for political power in British Columbia still had no clear winner early Sunday after the vast majority of votes in the provincial election had been counted, with a weakened incumbent party barely holding off its top challenger late into the night.

With a little more than 96 per cent of votes counted, the B.C. NDP and B.C. Conservatives were left locked in a near dead heat. 

The NDP were either elected or leading in 46 ridings, while the Conservatives had won or were leading in 45 — e…