the governing british columbia social credit party (socreds) had seen a leadership change just months before the election, with bill bennett standing down in favour of bill vander zalm. promising a fresh start after the bennett years, vander zalm led the socreds to a fourth consecutive majority government, although with winning less than half of the popular vote. 12 new seats had been created in the legislature for this election. social credit coincidentally won 12 additional seats, while the social democratic new democratic party, led by bob skelly, won the same number it had in the previous election.