Liberals win majority in New Brunswick election
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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