Turnout 55.2% 37 seats, 56.1% 5 seats, 24.6% 28 3 Start date November 30, 2015 | 6 seats, 19.1% 37 seats, 56.1% 16 28 31 7 | |
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The 2015 Newfoundland and Labrador general election, formally the 49th Newfoundland and Labrador general election, elected members of the House of Assembly in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Progressive Conservative Party which had formed a majority government since the 2011 election, was defeated by the Liberal Party, which won a majority in the new assembly.
Contents
- Party leadership
- Timeline
- Campaign
- Party standings
- Liberal Party
- Progressive Conservative Party
- New Democratic Party
- Results by region
- Candidates by district
- Labrador
- References
The election had been scheduled for October 13, 2015, under Newfoundland and Labrador's House of Assembly Act, mandating a fixed election day on the second Tuesday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous election. However, the House of Assembly amended the act in June 2015, to delay the election until November 30, 2015, so that the election campaign would not overlap with the federal election scheduled on October 19, 2015.
Following the result of the election no party with the word "Conservative" in its name formed the government in either a provincial or federal jurisdiction in Canada for the first time since 1943.
With 55.2% of eligible voters casting a ballot, this election had the lowest turnout of any provincial election since confederation.
Party leadership
Following the 2011 provincial election Liberal leader Kevin Aylward announced his resignation as leader. Aylward was unable to win a seat in the legislature and announced on October 26, 2011, he would step down once his successor was chosen. On December 15, 2011, the Liberal Party announced that Dwight Ball would become Leader of the Opposition and interim Liberal leader effective January 3, 2012. Party president Judy Morrow announced in December 2011, that the party was not likely to hold a leadership convention until sometime in 2013. On November 17, 2013 Dwight Ball was elected leader of the Liberal Party.
On January 22, 2014, Kathy Dunderdale announced she was resigning as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) later that week and that Finance Minister Tom Marshall would replace her until the party selected a new leader. On January 24, 2014, Marshall was sworn in as the province's 11th premier. Marshall had indicated that he would not be seeking re-election as the member of the House of Assembly for Humber East and therefore would not contest the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. The party held its leadership convention on September 13, 2014 and chose Paul Davis as its leader. Davis was sworn in as the 12th Premier on September 26, 2014.
Timeline
Campaign
The Liberals consistently held a massive lead in public opinion polling throughout the campaign, with 66 per cent support among decided voters at the outset and 67 per cent support in a poll released just one week before election day.
Their lead was so large and so unshakable that some pundits openly speculated that the party could potentially sweep every seat in the province, although others suggested that this was unlikely. Numerous ridings in and around St. John's remained more competitive than provincewide polling suggested, and some voters appeared to be swayed in the final days by the argument that even if they were inclined to support the Liberals, the province's democratic process would not be well-served by giving one party a clean sweep of the legislature with no opposition party to challenge them.
In the final results, the Liberals did win almost every seat in most of the province, except for a single Progressive Conservative incumbent hanging on in Central Newfoundland; in St. John's, however, the New Democrats successfully retained two of the three seats they held in the city, while the Progressive Conservatives held onto almost every seat in the city's suburbs.
The largest victory in the province was won by Liberal MLA Andrew Parsons in Burgeo-La Poile, who took fully 96.5 per cent of the more than 4,000 votes cast in his riding while neither of his opponents garnered even 100 votes.
Party standings
This election saw the fourth change-in-government since Newfoundland and Labrador joined confederation in 1949.
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party won 31 seats making this election their best election since 1999 when the party won 32. However in 1990, the party won 32 of 48 seats (66.7%) while in 2015 they won 31 of 40 seats (77.5%). By percentage, this is the party's best result since 1966 when the party won 39 of 42 seats (92.9%). Dwight Ball is the province's first liberal premier since Roger Grimes. 6 liberal candidates won over 80% of the popular vote in their respective ridings and 4 of these 6 candidates were later appointed to the Executive Council.
Progressive Conservative Party
With this election PC leader Paul Davis became the fourth incumbent premier to not lead his party to re-election (after Joey Smallwood in 1972, Tom Rideout in 1989 and Roger Grimes in 2003). Davis's government had also been the only provincial government where a party with the word "conservative" in the name formed the government. With 7 of 40 seats (17.5%), this is the party's worst result since 1966 when it won 3 of 42 seats.
New Democratic Party
In the 2011 election the NDP placed second in total votes and won 5 seats (a record-high for the party) however since the election 2 NDP MHAs defected to the Liberal Party. Only 2 of the 3 remaining NDP MHAs ran for re-election and these 2 MHAs were the only NDP candidates to win in this election. By percentage of seats however, this is the second-best result the provincial NDP has ever had winning 2 of 40 seats (5%).
Results by region
The district with the highest turnout was Cape St. Francis (71.68%). The district with the lowest turnout was Torngat Mountains (39.50%).
Candidates by district
Bold incumbents indicates cabinet members and party leaders are italicized. The premier's name is boldfaced and italicized.
Labrador
Preliminary results as of 1 December 2015.