Canada: Alberta Progressive Conservatives win majority again

From the polls it looked as if the Wildrose party might win a minority or even majority government. However the polls were wrong. In fact the popular vote was running at almost 44 per cent for the PCs and just around 36 per cent for the Wildrose as I am writing this at just about ten thirty PM central time.

The CBC has just declared that there will be a majority Conservative government even though many ridings are still too close to declare who is elected. But the figures show the situation: The Conservatives are leading in 60 seats the Wildrose in 19 the NDP in 4 and the Liberals in 4. The NDP has doubled their numbers if they actually win whereas the Liberals seem to have lost several seats.

Some Liberal voters may have decided to vote PC to keep the Wildrose out but the NDP vote percentage held. Over the weekend many who earlier intended to vote for the Wildrose must have changed their mind or perhaps the undecided voters chose to vote for the Progressive Conservatives. I did not think that the strategic voting campaign was working but perhaps it did have some effect although not on New Democratic Party voters. The Conservatives have been in power in Alberta for over 40 years.

UPDATE : Results here as of April 24th

Progressive Conservatives elected in 61 seats and leading in one, Wildrose Party elected in 17, NDP elected in 4 and Liberals elected in 4. Popular vote:: PC 43.9 , Wildrose 34.5, NDP 9.8, Liberal 9.6.