Elections Alberta has released the official results of the 2023 Alberta provincial election, June 8, 2023. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Alberta election results made official, 59.5% turnout

Jun 8, 2023 | 3:41 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The results of the 2023 Alberta provincial election have now been made official.

Full Election Coverage: Alberta Votes 2023

Elections Alberta reports that a total of 1,777,321 eligible voters, or 59.5 per cent, cast ballots. Turnout is down from 67.5 per cent in the 2019 election.

“Of that, a record-breaking 758,640 electors chose to vote during advance voting days, with 21.9 percent of people using the ‘Vote Anywhere’ service,” said Elections Alberta.

The United Conservative Party (UCP) will form a majority government, winning 928,896 votes or 52.6 per cent. Danielle Smith’s party will claim 49 seats in the legislature out of 87.

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She will be sworn in as premier at a yet-to-be-determined date.

The Alberta NDP came in at second place with 777,397 ballots or 44 per cent of the popular vote. The NDP, led by Rachel Notley, will form the official opposition.

No other political parties garnered enough votes to hold a seat in the provincial government.

Many of the seats in southern Alberta will remain the same as Danielle Smith (Brooks-Medicine Hat), Joseph Schow (Cardston-Siksika), Nathan Neudorf (Lethbridge-East), Shannon Phillips (Lethbridge-West), and Grant Hunter (Taber-Warner) all won re-election.

Cypress-Medicine Hat and Livingstone-Macleod will have new MLAs as Justin Wright and Chelsae Petrovic each won for the UCP in their ridings.

Local election results in southern Alberta include:

• Brooks-Medicine Hat: Voter turnout – 56.9 per cent
  • Danielle Smith (UCP) – 13,315
  • Gwendoline Dirk (NDP) – 5,477
  • Barry Morishita (Alberta Party) – 1,233
• Cardston-Siksika: Voter turnout – 55.1 per cent
  • Joseph Schow (UCP) – 10,550
  • Colleen Quintal (NDP) – 2,527
  • Angela Tabak (Independent) – 871
  • Terry Wolsey (Independence Party of Alberta) – 251
  • Par Wantenaar (Solidarity Movement of Alberta) – 35
• Cypress-Medicine Hat: Voter turnout – 53.2 per cent
  • Justin Wright (UCP) – 13,489
  • Cathy Hogg (NDP) – 7,697
  • Matt Orr (Wildrose Loyalty Commission) – 322
  • Cody Ray Both (Independence Party of Alberta) – 287
• Lethbridge-East: Voter turnout – 57.7 per cent
  • Nathan Neudorf (UCP) – 10,998
  • Rob Miyashiro (NDP) – 10,362
  • Helen McMenamin (Liberal) – 488
• Lethbridge-West: Voter turnout – 60.5 per cent
  • Shannon Phillips (NDP) – 12,082
  • Cheryl Seaborn (UCP) – 9,525
  • Braham Luddu (Alberta Party) – 425
  • Patricia Chizek (Liberal) – 375
• Livingstone-Macleod: Voter turnout – 64.5 per cent
  • Chelsae Petrovic (UCP) – 16,491
  • Kevin Van Tighem (NDP) – 6,492
  • Kevin Todd (Alberta Party) – 975
  • Corrie Toone (Independence Party of Alberta) – 353
  • Dylin Hauser (Liberal) – 194
  • Erik Abildgaard (Independent) – 130
• Taber-Warner: Voter turnout – 56.3 per cent
  • Grant Hunter (UCP) – 12,379
  • Jazminn Hintz (NDP) – 2,817
  • Paul Hinman (Wildrose Loyalty Coalition) – 754
  • Joel Hunt (Green Party) – 239
  • Frank Kast (Independence Party of Alberta) – 129
  • Brent Ginther (Solidarity Movement of Alberta) – 124

Danielle Smith is expected to announce the members of her new cabinet on Friday.

It will look quite a bit different from when Jason Kenney lead the UCP to its first election victory in 2019 as several key people have either retired or lost their bids for re-election.

There are now vacancies in the health, finance, justice, environment, social services, and mental health and addictions portfolios.

The full election results can be found on the Elections Alberta website.