Saskatchwan General Provencial Election 2003

[Kevinstat]

I had posted a lot earlier but lost it all so I'll just list some sites for now.

http://www.elections.sk.ca/home.php - government site on Saskatchewan elections

http://www.cbc.ca/saskvotes2003/ - leading canadian network's site on the election

You should check out the "Parties and Leaders" section on the second site.  It's very interesting.

[Kevinstat]

The date of the election is Wedensday, November 5, 2003.  I found that on the Election 2003 page of Elections Saskatchewan.  My prediction was that the Saskatchewan party would win a majority of the seats, but I haven't been following this at all.  It seemed like the NDP government just barely hung on last time and was not very popular, but some other people here likely have a better idea of things than I do.  One thing though, why would the results in Saskatchewan not make any difference at the federal level?  A Saskatchewan Party victory could give the Canadian Alliance some momentum in that provence for the coming National Election, and would perhaps cause some high-ranking members of the current government to lose prestige as members of the minority party and limit their ability to challenge Alliance incumbents in the coming election.  If the liberals could gain several seats, it could help Martin be more competitive in that state.  You guys probably know better than I about these connections (or lack therof).  I have to get going, but I wish you all a great evening.

Sincerely,

Kevin Lamoreau

[Kevinstat]

Here are the results, according to CBC:

NDP: 44.62% of the popular vote, 30 seats (51.7%)
Sask. Party: 39.35% of the popular vote, 28 seats (48.3%)
Liberals: 14.17% of the popular vote, 0 seats
Other parties and independent candidates: 1.87% of the popular vote, 0 seats

Interestingly, if you take the NDP's share of the two party (NDP and Sask. Party) vote, it comes out to 51.4%, very close to the percentage of seats (amoung the top two parties and overall) that it won.  So the Saskatchewan Party can't claim to have been cheated like in 1999, where they won more popular votes than the NDP but won fewer seats.  The Liberals must be really unhappy though, as 14% of the vote is a lot to get and still not get win a single seat.  I have to get going, but I'll probably post some more later.

Sincerely,

Kevin Lamoreau