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Amid a bizarre vote-counting snafu, rookie politician Brian Gallant led his Liberal party to a majority election victory in New Brunswick, as voters rejected the Progressive Conservatives bid to jump-start a moribund economy by expanding its shale gas industry.

After a long night, it is with a great deal of humility that I accept the responsibility of being the premier of our beautiful province, Liberal Leader Brian Gallant told supporters inside a gymnasium in Grande-Digue, N.B., early Tuesday.

I feel so humble and grateful to have earned your trust.

With most of the polls reporting after a tight battle that went well into the night, the tabulation of ballots was suspended Monday around 10:45 p.m. for almost two hours as concerns arose about technical glitches with memory cards and discrepancies with vote-counting machines.

Before the count was stopped, Gallants Liberals and the Tories under David Alward were locked in a tight contest. That changed once the results were updated with the Liberals winning 27 ridings compared to the Progressive Conservatives with 21.

Green party Leader David Coon was elected in the riding of Fredericton South, a breakthrough for a party that has never held a seat in the New Brunswick legislature.

The vote counting glitch caused the Tories to call for all the ballots to be counted by hand, while the Liberals said Elections New Brunswick needed to be left alone to determine the outcome.

Obviously, there was a delay but that doesnt deny the results tonight, Gallant said.

We believe weve clearly had a convincing plurality of the votes and we certainly have a majority of the seats. It makes it very clear that New Brunswickers have asked for change and thats exactly what well try to deliver for them over the next few weeks, months and years.

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Liberals win majority in New Brunswick election

CTVNews.ca Published Monday, September 22, 2014 6:09AM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, September 23, 2014 1:12PM EDT

The Liberals have won a majority government in New Brunswick, after a long night of vote-counting that was held up for two hours because of a glitch in a new election system.

The count: Liberals were elected in 27 ridings; the Progressive Conservativeswill take 21 seats in the new legislature.

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, 32, who is slated to become Canadas youngest premier, delivered his victory speech in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"The count has been delayed, but not denied," Gallant told his supporters. "We have a won a convincing victory in the popular vote."

He said his party will ensure that the province moves in the right direction. He promised jobs and prosperity for New Brunswick residents.

Elections New Brunswick made an announcement about the vote count glitch at 10:45 p.m. local time, almost three hours after the polls closed in the tight election, and counting was paused for almost two hours.

They were investigating issues with the electronic tabulating system, which was being used for the first time in the provincial election. Later, it was determined that some of the results being entered manually were not being replaced properly by subsequent results coming in from memory cards.

Mike Quinn, the chief returning officer for Elections NB, told CTV Atlantics Steve Murphy that the poll results were originally being phoned in by local returning officers. That phoned-in information is then manually entered into the system and posted to the website.

Later, the electronic results were supposed to override the manual entries as they come in.

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N.B. Liberals win majority after vote count delays

The Canadian Press Published Monday, September 22, 2014 6:09AM EDT Last Updated Monday, September 22, 2014 9:13PM EDT

FREDERICTON -- New Brunswick's Liberals and governing Progressive Conservatives were in an unusually tight race as votes were tallied at the conclusion of an election campaign that was dominated by jobs and the economy.

The Liberals, led by political rookie Brian Gallant, had been the perceived front-runner in the race long before the campaign even began. But the results indicated a much closer contest than polls suggested.

Like his main rival, Tory Premier David Alward, Gallant focused his campaign on employment growth, promising to create thousands of jobs by spending $900 million over six years to pave roads, repair bridges and upgrade other infrastructure.

By contrast, Alward sought a second mandate by committing to spur economic growth through expansion of the province's relatively new but contentious shale gas industry.

Alward's position was polarizing in the province, where public protests have raised concerns about the industry's use of hydraulic fracturing.

But Alward, 54, said New Brunswick is on the verge of $10 billion in private investment if it develops its deposits of shale gas and welcomes the proposed Energy East Pipeline, which could see oil shipped from Alberta to Saint John.

Alward and Gallant were both elected in their ridings by wide margins. But six of Alward's cabinet ministers went down in defeat.

With a large number of polls reporting results, the Liberals were leading and elected in 25 ridings compared to the Tories with 23.

Green Leader David Coon had a small lead in a close three-way race in the riding of Fredericton South.

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Liberals and Tories in close race after early returns in N.B. election

The Canadian Press Published Monday, September 22, 2014 6:09AM EDT Last Updated Monday, September 22, 2014 9:13PM EDT

FREDERICTON -- New Brunswick's Liberals and governing Progressive Conservatives were in an unusually tight race as votes were tallied at the conclusion of an election campaign that was dominated by jobs and the economy.

The Liberals, led by political rookie Brian Gallant, had been the perceived front-runner in the race long before the campaign even began. But the results indicated a much closer contest than polls suggested.

Like his main rival, Tory Premier David Alward, Gallant focused his campaign on employment growth, promising to create thousands of jobs by spending $900 million over six years to pave roads, repair bridges and upgrade other infrastructure.

By contrast, Alward sought a second mandate by committing to spur economic growth through expansion of the province's relatively new but contentious shale gas industry.

Alward's position was polarizing in the province, where public protests have raised concerns about the industry's use of hydraulic fracturing.

But Alward, 54, said New Brunswick is on the verge of $10 billion in private investment if it develops its deposits of shale gas and welcomes the proposed Energy East Pipeline, which could see oil shipped from Alberta to Saint John.

Alward and Gallant were both elected in their ridings by wide margins. But six of Alward's cabinet ministers went down in defeat.

With a large number of polls reporting results, the Liberals were leading and elected in 25 ridings compared to the Tories with 23.

Green Leader David Coon had a small lead in a close three-way race in the riding of Fredericton South.

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Liberals, Tories neck and neck after early returns in N.B. election

In the last week of the campaign, the New Brunswick Liberals ran a television ad featuring a picture of a smiling David Alward, the Progressive Conservative leader and Premier, beside Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Ominous music played in the background as a female narrator said: Conservatives David Alward and Stephen Harper have made a mess of New Brunswicks economy over the last four years. She asked voters if they want another four years of job losses, higher debt, and young people fleeing the province.

Globe and Mail Update Sep. 22 2014, 12:21 PM EDT

It may be a provincial campaign, but Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, the 32-year-old rookie, has been invoking the Prime Minister in one of his key campaign messages: the Harper-Alward alliance has been bad for New Brunswick.

Mr. Alwards team calls the ad nasty and is not happy the Liberals repeatedly refer to Mr. Alward and his party as the Alward Conservatives, deliberately forgetting to include the Progressive in the partys name.

They have such a strong brand right now because of Trudeau, says a senior Alward strategist of the Liberals. The advantage they have is that they have that same brand right across the country. Its the red L. From a brand perspective its difficult [for the PCs] because of Harper and some of the policies hes had in Atlantic Canada.

New Brunswickers go to the polls Monday, ending a campaign that has offered voters clear choices, especially on the key issue of job creation.

Mr. Alward, 54, is seeking a second term. He has focused his campaign on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, as a way of creating jobs and keeping young New Brunswickers who have left for jobs in the West at home.

His campaign slogan is Say Yes to shale gas, jobs and prosperity. He is hoping the province will see $10-billion in private investment through the governments promotion of natural-resource development, including shale gas and the proposed Energy East pipeline.

Mr. Alward made history in 2010 by winning a majority and defeating the Liberals, who had served just one term the first time a New Brunswick government lost after just one term. Now, Mr. Gallant wants to do the same to Mr. Alward.

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New Brunswick Liberals link Alward to Harper as voters head to polls