B.C. Votes 2017: Penticton riding profile

In advance of the 2017 B.C. election, we'll be profiling all 87 electoral districts in the province. Here isPenticton, one of the Okanagan'ssevenridings and a seat that doesn't always follow the same political path as the rest of the region.

Summary: A small, mostly urban riding in the southern Okanagan, Penticton includes the city it's named for, along with the communities ofPeachland, Summerland and Naramata.

Politics: The Okanagan is generally an area where the NDP struggles, and the B.C. Liberals have won every seat in the region since 1996.

But the NDP did win the riding containing Penticton in 1991, won the riding federally in 2015and came within 1,300 of winning here provincially in 2013.

Candidates: Dan Ashton is seeking re-election for the Liberals. A backbench MLA, Ashton was a two-term mayor of Penticton when he was elected in 2013and before that served as a city councillor from 1999 to 2008.

The NDP candidate is Tarik Sayeed, an entrepreneur and Penticton city councillor originally from Bangladesh.

The Green Party candidate is Connie Sahlmark, a student at Okanagan College.

Where does the NDP do well?In Penticton itself, the party is very competitive, usually winning a majority of polling stations in the northern half of the city. It also won about 60 percent of the vote in the town of Naramata in 2013.

What about the Liberals?It does quite well in Peachland, gaining around 60 percent of the vote. It also does well in the hillside communities of Wiltse and Vallewviewon the outskirts of Penticton.