NDP picks up 4 new projected seats, Sask. Party gets 1, after early mail-in vote count
CBC
CBC is projecting four more seats for the Saskatchewan NDP and one more for the Saskatchewan Party after the first round of mail-in ballots were counted on Wednesday.
Of the 61 election races in the province, CBC considers only two, Saskatoon Westview and Saskatoon Willowgrove, still too close to call.
The final tally, including remaining mail-in ballots received after Oct. 26 but before the deadline, will be counted on Nov. 9.
Saskatoon Westview was the closest race heading into Wednesday, with Saskatchewan Party incumbent David Buckingham leading by 31 votes over the NDP's April ChiefCalf.
After the initial mail-in count, Elections Saskatchewan showed ChiefCalf leading by 37 votes after 291 out of 484 issued mail-in ballots had been counted. As many as 193 mail-in ballots could still come in. Those would be tallied in the final count on Nov. 9.
As for Saskatoon Willowgrove, incumbent Ken Cheveldayoff leads by 178 votes after 658 mail-in ballots were counted. There are 427 mail-in ballots that could still potentially come in.
Political analyst Éric Grenier said he thinks the seats will remain the same when the final counts are tallied in, with the NDP increasing the margin in Saskatoon Westview.
"It does seem that in Saskatoon as a whole, the NDP will win 13 seats and the Sask. Party will win one, if they can hold on to Willowgrove," Grenier said.
Long-time Saskatchewan Party MLA Christine Tell is projected to lose her re-election bid in Regina Wascana Plains to former teacher and NDP candidate Brent Blakley. The current margin of victory for Blakley stands at 505 votes.
Tell was first elected in 2007 and served as minister of corrections and policing, and most recently the Minister of Environment.
CBC has also projected that the NDP has flipped Saskatoon Silverspring, Saskatoon Southeast and Saskatoon Chief Mistawasis.
Former minister of corrections and policing and health minister Paul Merriman has been defeated in Silverspring by Hugh Gordon, CBC has projected.
Merriman becomes the fifth cabinet minister out of five in Saskatoon or Regina to be projected to lose their seat in this election.
The mail-in vote increased Gordon's margin from 258 votes to 391.
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