By-elections to the 29th Alberta Legislature
By-elections to the 29th Alberta Legislature have been held to fill vacancies in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta after the 2015 election. To date, two by-elections have been held to fill vacancies in the 29th Alberta Legislature.
The 29th Alberta Legislature was formed after the 2015 election, during which the New Democrats won their first majority government under the leadership of Rachel Notley. Both by-elections since have been in ridings which were initially won by the Progressive Conservatives, and have returned one Wildrose and one Progressive Conservative member each to the legislature.
Calgary-Foothills
Following the Alberta Progressive Conservatives' defeat in the 2015 provincial election, outgoing premier Jim Prentice announced on election night that even though he had personally won re-election in Calgary-Foothills, he was resigning his seat in the legislature.[1] This had the effect of voiding the election result, and necessitated the calling of a by-election to fill the seat.
The by-election to succeed him was scheduled for September 3, 2015, and was won by Prasad Panda of the Wildrose Party. Panda's victory increased the Wildrose caucus to 22 members in the Legislature, and kept the Progressive Conservatives at 9.[2]
| Alberta provincial by-election, September 3, 2015: Calgary-Foothills Voiding of general election results due to Jim Prentice disclaiming his seat | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Wildrose | Prasad Panda | 4,877 | 38.35 | +20.24 | ||||
| New Democratic | Bob Hawkesworth | 3,270 | 25.71 | -6.65 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Blair Houston | 2,746 | 21.59 | -18.74 | ||||
| Liberal | Ali Bin Zahid | 791 | 6.22 | -0.94 | ||||
| Alberta Party | Mark Taylor | 610 | 4.80 | +4.80 | ||||
| Green | Janet Keeping | 377 | 2.96 | +0.92 | ||||
| Independent | Antoni Grochowski | 46 | 0.36 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 12,717 | |||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 39.48 | |||||||
| Eligible voters | 32,212 | |||||||
| Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | +19.49 | ||||||
Calgary-Greenway
The riding of Calgary-Greenway was left vacant on November 23, 2015, when incumbent Progressive Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar was killed in a vehicle accident on Alberta Highway 2.[3] The resulting by-election was won by Prabhdeep Gill of the Progressive Conservatives.[4]
The by-election resulted in a Progressive Conservative hold, but saw the vote share for that party drop by 15 points from the 2015 election.
| Alberta provincial by-election, March 22, 2016: Calgary-Greenway | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Prabhdeep Gill | 2,292 | 27.73 | -15.04 | ||||
| Wildrose | Devinder Toor | 1,957 | 23.68 | +2.62 | ||||
| Liberal | Khalil Karbani | 1,870 | 22.63 | - | ||||
| New Democratic | Roop Rai | 1,667 | 20.17 | -16.00 | ||||
| Green | Thana Boonlert | 166 | 2.01 | - | ||||
| Independent | Said Hussein Abdulbaki | 146 | 1.77 | - | ||||
| Independent | Larry Heather | 106 | 1.28 | - | ||||
| Independent | Sukhi Rai | 61 | 0.74 | - | ||||
| Total valid votes | 8,265 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | ||||||||
| Turnout | 29.23 | |||||||
| Eligible voters | 28,278 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | -8.83 | ||||||
References
- ↑ "Jim Prentice resigns after orange wave sweeps Alberta". CBC News. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
- ↑ "Wildrose's Panda defeats NDP in Calgary-Foothills byelection battle". Calgary Herald, September 4, 2015.
- ↑ "Alberta Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar killed in car crash". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ↑ Wood, James (23 March 2016). "Tories hold Calgary-Greenway riding after byelection". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 24 March 2016.