With one week to go keep an eye on the BC Green Party, says expert

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – There’s just one week left to go before the provincial election and so far, it’s no secret that the campaigns have been less than friendly.

“It is always in the script for the Liberals to be nasty toward the New Democrats, and the New Democrats have more than responded in kind,” says UBC Political Science Professor Richard Johnston, who is calling the election so far “somewhat predictable.”

According to Johnston, Liberal Leader Christy Clark has been campaigning on her record and the current state of the economy rather than a platform, which he feels is thin in terms of new policies.

As for the NDP, he believes it has a fairly big platform and is trying to create an impression of knowing what to do if elected, and not just offering up an ’empty slate’.

As for the BC Green Party, Johnston says they seem to have disruptive potential. “They have enough support, support concentrated enough in the South Island, that they might either win some seats – they seem like they certainly hold Weaver’s seat and they might win one or two more, but also to take enough votes from the other two parties to have a serious impact on the actual outcome.”

So what can you expect from each party in the days to come? For one, you’ll probably see more ads. “We’re going to see an intensification of the persuasion campaign, and that’s probably going to be just as negative, than it’s been to this point.”

He adds parties are going to be mobilizing as many people to advanced polls as they can so leaders can focus on undecided voters come Election Day.

But in the lead up to decision day, Johnston says you’ll want to keep an eye on the Greens. “They are the random element on the landscape.”