2004 Alberta general election

2004 Alberta general election

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83 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 42 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	45.12%
Majority party Minority party   Leader Ralph Klein Kevin Taft Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since December 14, 1992 March 27, 2004 Leader's seat Calgary-Elbow Edmonton-Riverview Last election 74 seats, 61.9% 7 seats, 27.3% Seats before 73 5 Seats won 62 16 Seat change 11 11 Popular vote 417,092 261,471 Percentage 46.8% 29.4% Swing 15.1% 2.1%   Third party Fourth party   AA Leader Brian Mason Randy Thorsteinson Party New Democratic Alberta Alliance Leader since July 13, 2004 February 15, 2003 Leader's seat Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood ran in Innisfail-Sylvan Lake (lost) Last election 2 seats, 8.0% pre-creation Seats before 2 1 Seats won 4 1 Seat change 2 ±0 Popular vote 90,897 77,506 Percentage 10.2% 8.7% Swing 2.2% —
Popular vote by riding. As this is a first-past-the-post election, seat totals are not determined by total popular vote, but instead by results in each riding.
Premier before election Ralph Klein Progressive Conservative Premier after election Ralph Klein Progressive Conservative

The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated deadline of March 2006. This election was held in conjunction with the 2004 Alberta Senate nominee election.

When the election was called, it was expected to be anticlimactic, with Klein cruising to his fourth straight majority, the tenth for his Progressive Conservative Party.

Shortly after the drop of the writs, Klein's mother died and all parties suspended their campaigns for several days. After the campaign resumed, Klein avoided making any policy announcements and attended few events. One commentator called it "Kleinfeld: the campaign about nothing" (a reference to the television sitcom Seinfeld). The Liberal Party, which had hoped to hold on to the five seats it had and regain the two seats that it had lost to resignations, began to pick up momentum and became far more optimistic.

In the end, the Conservatives were re-elected, despite losing 11 seats and 15% of the popular vote, having dropped to a minority position in the polls. The Liberals more than doubled their seats by electing 17 MLAs on election night The Liberals dominated in Edmonton and made strong inroads in Calgary.

The Alberta New Democrats (NDP) held on to their two seats and gained two more, all in Edmonton.

The Conservatives swept rural Alberta except for one seat that went to the Alberta Alliance, which also placed second in a number of rural ridings. The Conservatives received no more than 56 percent of the vote in any of the three rural regions so was very much over-represented by its almost-total one-party sweep of the rural seats.

The Alberta Greens gained in the popular vote, jumping from 0.3% in the 2001 election to 2.8%, and placed third in some places. Despite placing second in the riding of Drayton Valley-Calmar ahead of the Liberals, it did not win any seats.

Social Credit placed third in a number of ridings, and its leader tied for second in Rocky Mountain House.

The Conservative, Liberal and NDP leaders all easily held onto their own seats.