B.C. NDP Leader Carole James conceded her party's defeat on election night at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. (CBC)

Carole James will stay on as leader of the B.C. NDP despite the party's defeat in the May 12 provincial election, several party insiders told CBC News on Tuesday.

James is expected to address the media Wednesday about her own future and probably the opposition party's direction when the new legislature begins later this year, the insiders said.

The NDP was defeated for the third straight time and got 36 seats to the Liberals' 49 on election day, according to preliminary results.

James said on election night that she had no plans to step down but has since shied away from the media spotlight.

"The party is a bit confused about the way forward," Dennis Pilon, a political scientist at the University of Victoria, said Tuesday.

"They see James as the person who put the party back together [and] brought them back up in the polls."

The NDP's failure to become the government has raised suggestions that the party's strategists put together a lacklustre election campaign that didn't mobilize working-class voters.

Pilon said the NDP didn't offer any real alternative vision during the campaign, one that could have tapped into the legitimate anger of such voters.

"The New Democrats ran a boy-scout campaign, which basically was like a public service announcement: 'Gosh, terrible things are happening and people are breaking the rules. That's awful. Take back your B.C.,' " he said.

"That's not helping people understand why for the past 30 years the standard of living has been falling for working people in this province."

Gerry Scott, the NDP campaign co-chair, said Tuesday that the media were to blame for focusing too much on candidates' personalities rather than the issues they rallied behind.