Saskatchewan general election, 1999
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The Saskatchewan general election of 1999 was the twenty-fourth provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on September 16, 1999, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.
Facing the fallout of a poor crop growing season and a scandal involving SaskPower (Channel Lake), the New Democratic 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 Saskatchewan Party was a right-wing party created by former members of the Progressive Conservative Party and by 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. It won 39.61% of the popular vote, slightly more than the NDP's 38.73%, but only twenty five seats.
The NDP was able to continue to govern with the support of some Liberal Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
Some New Democrats who were unhappy with the government of Roy Romanow had left the party to form the New Green Alliance, an environmentalist party. This party won about 1% of the popular vote, and no seats in the legislature.
The Progressive Conservative Party nominated fourteen paper candidates, all in NDP strongholds, in order to preserve its status as a registered political party. The Tories did not actively campaign and won only a few votes.
[edit] Results
| Party | Party Leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular Vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Elected | % Change | # | % | % Change | ||||
| New Democratic |
|
58 | 42 | 29 | -31.0% | 157,046 | 38.73% | -8.48% | |
| Saskatchewan Party |
|
58 | * | 251 | * | 160,603 | 39.61% | * | |
| Liberal |
|
58 | 11 | 31 | -72.7% | 81,694 | 20.15% | -14.55% | |
| New Green |
|
16 | * | – | * | 4,101 | 1.01% | * | |
| Progressive Conservative |
|
14 | 5 | – | -100% | 1,609 | 0.40% | -17.52% | |
| Independent | 2 | – | – | – | 422 | 0.10% | -0.07% | ||
| Total | 206 | 58 | 571 | – | 405,475 | 100% | |||
Notes:
* Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.
1 One constituency, Wood River, was initially won by the Liberals, but the result was overturned by the courts. The Saskatchewan Party won the ensuing by-election.
| Preceded by: 1995 |
Saskatchewan elections | Succeeded by: 2003 |
| Saskatchewan General Elections |  |
| 1905 | 1908 | 1912 | 1917 | 1921 | 1925 | 1929 | 1934 | 1938 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1967 | 1971 | 1975 | 1978 | 1982 | 1986 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | |
Source: Elections Saskatchewan
