1999 Saskatchewan general election

1999 Saskatchewan general election

← 1995 September 16, 1999 (1999-09-16) 2003 →
← outgoing members members →
58 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 30 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	65.5% [1] (0.9pp)
First party Second party Third party   LIB Leader Roy Romanow Elwin Hermanson Jim Melenchuk Party New Democratic Saskatchewan Liberal Leader since November 7, 1987 April 20, 1998 November 24, 1996 Leader's seat Saskatoon Riversdale Rosetown-Elrose Saskatoon Northwest Last election 42 pre-creation 11 Seats before 43 10 5 Seats won 29 25 4 Seat change 14 15 1 Popular vote 157,046 160,603 81,694 Percentage 38.73% 39.61% 20.15% Swing 8.48pp 39.61 14.55pp
Premier before election Roy Romanow New Democratic Premier after election Roy Romanow New Democratic

The 1999 Saskatchewan general election was held on September 16, 1999 to elect members of the 24th Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan. The new Saskatchewan Party took more votes than any other party but the NDP took more seats, taking half the seats in the Saskatchewan Legislature. The NDP formed a coalition with four elected Liberal Party MLAs to hold majority government.

Polls during the campaign indicated strong levels of support for the New Democratic Party government.^[2][3] However, facing the fallout of a poor crop growing season and a scandal involving the Crown Corporation electric utility SaskPower (Channel Lake), the New Democrat government of Premier Roy Romanow – challenged by the newly created Saskatchewan Party – lost a significant share of the popular vote; winning exactly half of the fifty eight seats in the legislature.

The right-wing Saskatchewan Party was created during the sitting of the 23rd Assembly when much of the Progressive Conservative caucus joined forces with conservative Liberals who were unhappy with the leadership of Jim Melenchuk.

The new party was led by Elwin Hermanson, a former Reform Party federal Member of Parliament. In this election, it won 39.61% of the popular vote – slightly more than the NDP's 38.73%. However, this was only enough for 25 seats, five short of making Hermanson premier. This was mainly because it was almost nonexistent in the province's more urban areas; it was completely shut out in Regina and won only one seat in Saskatoon.

The NDP was able to continue to govern with the support of some Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

Some NDP members unhappy with the government of Roy Romanow left to form the New Green Alliance, an environmentalist party. This party won about 1% of the popular vote, and no seats in the legislature.

What remained of the Progressive Conservatives fielded 14 paper candidates – all in NDP strongholds – in order to preserve their status as a registered political party. The Tories did not actively campaign and won only a few votes.

To date, this is the most recent general election to return MLAs who were members of neither the NDP nor the Saskatchewan Party.