Tara Sawyer of the United Conservative Party has been confirmed as a new Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta following the provincial by-election in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency.
A total of three by-elections were held in Alberta on June 23rd with Sawyer capturing the important rural riding that had been represented by Nathan Cooper for a decade. Cooper resigned as the local UCP MLA after accepting the position of Alberta’s new senior representative to the United States in May which created the vacancy in the constituency. Sawyer received 61.1 percent of the support from voters in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills (9,362) by-election to become an MLA.
Alberta NDP candidates won the other two by-elections with their party leader Naheed Nenshi receiving 82.3 percent support in Edmonton-Strathcona and Gurtej Brar picking up 50.9 percent of the votes in Edmonton-Ellerslie.
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills was far and away the winner in terms of voter turnout over the other ridings in the by-elections with 38.8 percent. Edmonton-Strathcona clocked in at 32.0 percent and Edmonton-Ellerslie finished at 24.5 percent.
Overall, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills was down from 63.8 percent voter turnout in the 2023 provincial general election, according to Elections Alberta but the numbers on election day were actually stronger. The June 23rd stats showed 65.1 percent of the ballots came in that day as compared to 63.8 percent on election day in 2023.
Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP government now holds 47 of the 87 total seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the Alberta New Democrats have 38. There are currently two independent MLAs.
The announcement of the official results was made on Thursday, July 3rd.
