The 1871 British Columbia general election was held from October to December 1871. Formerly a British colony, British Columbia became a province of Canada on July 20, 1871. An interim Cabinet was appointed by the lieutenant governor of British Columbia, and election writs for the first general election as a province of Canada were issued to choose 25 members of the first provincial legislature from 12 ridings (electoral districts). These ridings were:
The election was held from October through December 1871, and was conducted by means of a show of hands on nomination day and, if required, an open poll book on polling day. There were no organized political parties.
Each voter could cast as many votes as there were seats to fill. Where multiple members were elected, the seats were filled through plurality block voting; elsewhere, first-past-the-post voting was used.[1]
Vancouver Island
Mainland:
Note that these figures refer to votes actually cast, not the population per se nor the total of the potential voters' list.
Note: There is no arrangement to the ridings and members, other than by rough alphabetical order, as all were technically independents. Actual seating of the House or political alignments are not represented.
|-|| |align="center"|Cornelius Booth|align="center" rowspan=3 |Cariboo
|| || |align="center" |Comox
|align="center"|John Ash|| |-|| |align="center"|Joseph Hunter|| || |align="center" rowspan=2|Cowichan
|align="center"|John Paton Booth|| |-|| |align="center"|George Anthony Boomer Walkem1|| || |align="center"|William Smithe || |-|| |align="center"|Henry Cogan |align="center" rowspan=2 |Esquimalt|| || |align="center" rowspan=2 |Kootenay|align="center"|John Andrew Mara|| |-|| |align="center"|Alexander Rocke Robertson|| || |align="center"|Charles Todd|| |-|| |align="center"|Thomas Basil Humphreys|align="center" rowspan=2 |Lillooet|| || |align="center" |Nanaimo|align="center"|John Robson|| |-|| |align="center"|Andrew Thomas Jamieson|| || |align="center" rowspan=2 |New Westminster|align="center"|William James Armstrong|| |-|| |align="center"|Henry Holbrook|align="center" |New Westminster City|| || |align="center" |Josiah Charles Hughes|| |-|| |align="center"|Arthur Bunster|align="center" rowspan=2 |Victoria|| || |align="center" rowspan=4 |Victoria City|align="center"|Robert Beaven|| |-|| |align="center"|Amor De Cosmos|| || |align="center"|Simeon Duck|| |-|| |align="center"|James Robinson|align="center" rowspan=3 |Yale|| || |align="center"|John Foster McCreight2|| |-|| |align="center"|Charles Augustus Semlin|| || |align="center"|James Trimble|| |-|| |align="center"|Robert Smith|| |-|-||align-left"|1 Premier-Elect|||||align-left"|2 Incumbent premier|-| align="center" colspan="10"|Source: Elections BC|-|}
Two sets of byelections were held to confirm appointments to the Executive Council (cabinet), as was the custom in earlier times. Ministerial candidates in this series of byelections were all confirmed by acclamation (so there were no actual polling dates). These byelections were:
Other byelections were also held due to deaths and other appointments; all were contested:
Note: Government/Opposition status applies to candidate at time of election in 1871, not at time of dissolution in 1875.|-|| |align="center"|John George Barnston|align="center" rowspan=3 |Cariboo
|| || |align="center" |Comox
|align="center"|John Ash|| |-|| |align="center"|Joseph Hunter|| || |align="center" rowspan=2|Cowichan
|align="center"|John Paton Booth|| |-|| |align="center"|George Anthony Boomer Walkem|| || |align="center"|William Smithe || |-|| |align="center"|Henry Cogan |align="center" rowspan=2 |Esquimalt|| || |align="center" rowspan=2 |Kootenay|align="center"|John Andrew Mara|| |-|| |align="center"|Alexander Rocke Robertson|| || |align="center"|Charles Todd|| |-|| |align="center"|Thomas Basil Humphreys|align="center" rowspan=2 |Lillooet|| || |align="center" |Nanaimo|align="center"|John Robson|| |-|| |align="center"|William M. Brown|| || |align="center" rowspan=2 |New Westminster|align="center"|William James Armstrong|| |-|| |align="center"|Henry Holbrook|align="center" |New Westminster City|| || |align="center" |Josiah Charles Hughes|| |-|| |align="center"|William Archibald Robertson|align="center" rowspan=2 |Victoria|| || |align="center" rowspan=4 |Victoria City|align="center"|Robert Beaven|| |-|| |align="center"|William Fraser Tolmie|| || |align="center"|Simeon Duck|| |-|| |align="center"|James Robinson|align="center" rowspan=3 |Yale|| || |align="center"|John Foster McCreight|| |-|| |align="center"|Charles Augustus Semlin|| || |align="center"|James Trimble|| |-|| |align="center"|Robert Smith|| |-|-||align-left"||||||align-left"||-| align="center" colspan="10"|Source: Elections BC|-|}