Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
UCP incumbent Martin Long has been re-elected in West Yellowhead as the United Conservative Party is projected to win a majority in the 2023 Alberta election on May 29.
Long received 14,452 out of 20,257 valid votes cast in West Yellowhead, about 71 per cent of the vote, according to unofficial results reported at 10 a.m. on May 30.
鈥淗eartfelt gratitude to the constituents of West Yellowhead for putting their trust in me once again to represent them,鈥� Long wrote in a Facebook post.
鈥淚t is an honour to be your voice in the Legislature and I look forward to the next four years continuing to bring forward all of your concerns.鈥�
Long also thanked his campaign team, his wife and family, campaign volunteers and his opponent for putting his name forward.
He also acknowledged his colleagues who were re-elected and those who weren鈥檛.
鈥淭hank you again for putting your trust in me, I am ready for the challenges that the next four years will undoubtedly bring.鈥�
Long has served as the MLA for West Yellowhead from 2019 to May 2023.
He was also parliamentary secretary of small business and tourism, then later reappointed as parliamentary secretary for small business.
NDP challenger Fred Kreiner got 5,805 votes, worth about 29 per cent of the vote.
Jasper leaned definitively towards the NDP with 637 votes for Kreiner and 184 votes for Long out of the 821 votes casted at the Jasper Activity Centre.
The UCP will be able to form a majority government after winning a tight race against the NDP.
Following the victory, UCP leader Danielle Smith told her supporters that 鈥渢his was the very definition of a hard-fought election.鈥�
She called on Albertans to come together in the face of looming Ottawa policies that she said would harm the provincial economy.
NDP leader Rachel Notley promised to hold the UCP government accountable and fight for a better future for all Albertans as her party was declared the official opposition.
鈥淚 feel tremendous gratitude and pride in the people of Alberta鈥攖hose who stood up and put their support behind a better future,鈥� Notley said in a statement.
鈥淎lthough we did not achieve the outcome we wanted, we took a major step toward it. The unprecedented growth of our party through this campaign is a warm light, one that gives me so much optimism for the work to come.鈥�
The UCP won 926,918 votes worth 52.56 per cent, while the NDP won 776,188 votes worth 44.02 per cent of the vote.
The unofficial turnout in Alberta was 62.38 per cent with 1,763,406 valid votes casted.
Official results will be announced on June 1.
