2018 New Brunswick general election

2018 New Brunswick general election
← 2014 September 24, 2018 (2018-09-24) 2020 →
49 seats in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick
25 seats needed for a majority
Turnout67.34%[1] (Increase2.69pp)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Blaine Higgs Brian Gallant Kris Austin
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal People's Alliance
Leader since October 22, 2016 October 27, 2012 June 5, 2010
Leader's seat Quispamsis Shediac Bay-Dieppe Fredericton-Grand Lake
Last election 21 seats, 34.64% 27 seats, 42.72% 0 seats, 2.14%
Seats before 21 24 0
Seats won 22 21 3
Seat change Increase1 Decrease3 Increase3
Popular vote 121,300 143,791 47,860
Percentage 31.89% 37.80% 12.58%
Swing Decrease2.75pp Decrease4.92pp Increase10.44pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader David Coon Jennifer McKenzie
Party Green New Democratic
Leader since September 22, 2012 August 10, 2017
Leader's seat Fredericton South Ran in Saint John Harbour (lost)
Last election 1 seat, 6.61% 0 seats, 12.98%
Seats before 1 0
Seats won 3 0
Seat change Increase2 Steady
Popular vote 45,186 19,039
Percentage 11.88% 5.00%
Swing Increase5.27pp Decrease7.98pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding.
Premier before election

Brian Gallant
Liberal

Premier after election

Brian Gallant [n 1]
Liberal

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox election with unknown parameter "next_mps"

The 2018 New Brunswick general election was held on September 24, 2018,[3][4] to elect the 49 members of the 59th New Brunswick Legislature, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada.

Two smaller parties — the People's Alliance and the Greens — made breakthroughs, winning three seats each, and potentially holding the balance of power. The People's Alliance entered the legislature for the first time, while the Greens increased their seat count from one. This marked the first time since the 1991 election that four parties won representation in the legislature. The election was also contested by the provincial New Democrats, newcomers KISS NB, and eight independents.

This is the first election since 1920 that did not return a majority for any party. The Progressive Conservatives won the most seats, with 22, but incumbent Liberal Premier Brian Gallant, whose party secured only 21 seats despite winning the popular vote by six percentage points, indicated that he would seek the confidence of the legislature and attempt to form a minority government.

On September 25, Gallant met with the Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau and received permission to continue in office.[5] On November 2, Gallant's minority government was defeated in a non-confidence vote.[6] On November 9, Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs was sworn in as premier with a minority government.[2]

  1. ^ Elections New Brunswick (February 22, 2019). "Thirty-Ninth General Election September 24, 2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Bisset, Kevin (November 9, 2018). "Blaine Higgs sworn-in as New Brunswick premier". The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 9, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  3. ^ Legislative Assembly Act, Section 2(4).
  4. ^ "Thirty-eighth general election September 22, 2014" (PDF). Elections New Brunswick. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  5. ^ Fraser, Elizabeth (September 25, 2018). "Liberals and PCs continue battle over who will govern N.B." CBC News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Poitras, Jacques (November 2, 2018). "Brian Gallant's minority government defeated after losing confidence vote". CBC News. Archived from the original on November 2, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.


Cite error: There are <ref group=n> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=n}} template (see the help page).