The Saskatchewan NDP has picked up the two urban ridings in the by-elections, while the Saskatchewan Party held on to the Lumsden-Morse riding. Previously all three had Sask Party MLAs.

According to preliminary results released by Elections Saskatchewan, the NDP candidates picked up Regina Walsh Acres and Regina Coronation Park. This is ballots cast at ballot boxes and does not include mail in votes, but the number of mail in votes will not impact the outcomes, but the numbers could change slightly.

In Regina Coronation Park, Noor Burki cruised to victory picking up 2039 of the 3603 votes cast in the riding over the last several days. The Sask Party’s Riaz Ahmad finished second with 1131 votes, or just over 31 percent. The Sask Party was stymied by some vote splitting with another right leaning candidate in the running, but the votes for the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan (222) wouldn’t have helped the Sask Party close the gap in that riding. Burki will replace former Sask Party MLA Mark Docherty who resigned in February.

In Regina Walsh Acres the NDP again had a strong showing. The NDP’s Jared Clark will now represent the riding once held by Sask Party MLA Derek Myers. Myers died of cancer earlier this year. Clarke picked up 2395 votes, good for 54 percent of the vote. The Sask Party’s Nevin Markwart finished with 1783 votes, or just over 40 percent of the votes cast.

The governing Sask Party fared better in Lumsden Morse, with Blaine McLeod of the Sask Party picking up more than 52 percent of the votes with a couple of polls still counting at publication of this story. Byelections are notoriously bad for voter turnout. In these three byelections voter turnout was:

Regina Coronation Park: 29%

Regina Walsh Acres: 37%

Lumsden Morse: 37%

The two byelection wins give the NDP 14 seats, up from 12, while the Sask Party holds 46 seats. The next provincial election is planned for October of 2024. (CKRM)