The only riding in the province to go anything other than Liberal also drew the greatest voter turnout.
About 69 per cent of eligible voters in St. John’s East exercised their franchise yesterday.
That was about the same turnout as 2015 when Nick Whalen captured the seat for the Liberals over Jack Harris. Harris turned the tables last night with a wide margin of victory, about 7,000 votes.
Speculation had St.John’s East as the closest race of the night but that was not the case. Churence Rogers in eastern and southern Newfoundland won his seat by about 2,000 votes and Scott Simms had about a 4,000-vote margin of victory.
Voter turnout in the rest of Newfoundland and Labrador ranges from the low 50th percentile to the high ’50s but only St. John’s East topped 60 per cent.
See below for a by-riding breakdown.
Liberals to Form Minority Government
Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have managed to hold onto power, but with a minority government.
Trudeau’s Liberals won the most seats with a projected 157, with the Conservatives close behind with 121 seats, making them the Official Opposition.
The Bloc Quebecois had a good showing, taking a projected 32 seats, while the NDP didn’t take as many as they had hoped going into election day following a late surge, capturing just 24 seats.
The Green Party took just three seats, while one Independent member, Jody Wilson-Raybould got back in. She was ousted from the Liberal caucus following the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Maxime Bernier’s upstart People’s Party failed to capture any seats, with Bernier losing his own seat to his former party.
Provincially, the Liberals had a strong showing, holding onto six of seven seats. In St. John’s East Jack Harris of the NDP defeated incumbent, Nick Whalen to capture the NDP’s only seat in Atlantic Canada
“To Jack Harris, it goes without saying, congratulations. And I look forward to you being my MP again,” said Nick Whalen, offering congratulations to NDP’s Jack Harris in his concession speech.
Liberals Seamus O’Regan, Ken McDonald, Churence Rogers, Scott Simms, Gudie Hutchings and Yvonne Jones have all been declared elected in their respective ridings.
Cheers erupt and the hugs come out as @SeamusORegan has been re-elected in St. John’s South – Mount Pearl. @VOCMNEWS #elxn43 pic.twitter.com/TuCatYqKzu
— Ben Murphy VOCM (@BenMurphyVOCM) October 22, 2019
Meanwhile, a slight shift in the electoral map across Atlantic Canada with the Conservatives grabbing five ridings through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the Green Party taking a seat in Frederickton, and the NDP seizing a spot in St. John’s East.
Candidates by Riding:
Avalon
- CHAPMAN, Matthew (Conservative) 31%
- MALONE, Greg (Green Party) 5.4%
- MCDONALD, Kenneth (Liberal) – Elected 46.1%
- MOVELLE, Lea Mary (NDP-New Democratic Party) 17.6%
Bonavista – Burin – Trinity
- COOPER, Matthew (NDP-New Democratic Party) 12%
- REICHEL, Kelsey (Green Party) 2.9%
- ROGERS, Churence (Liberal) – Elected 45.7%
- VOKEY, Sharon (Conservative) 39.5%
Coast of Bays – Central – Notre Dame
- BRACCI, Alex (Conservative) 35.5%
- JOE, Noel (NDP-New Democratic Party) 12.3%
- SIMMS, Scott (Liberal) – Elected 48.2%
- WHITE, Byron (Green Party) 4%
Labrador
- COLBOURNE, Tyler (Green Party) 2%
- FLEMMING, Larry (Conservative) 31.2%
- GRAY, Michelene (NDP-New Democratic Party) 24.6%
- JONES, Yvonne (Liberal) – Elected 42.3%
Long Range Mountains
- EISSES, Josh (Conservative) 28.3%
- HUTCHINGS, Gudie (Liberal) – Elected 47.4%
- KNILL, Lucas (Green Party) 3.5%
- MILES, Robert (VCP) 1.1%
- PIKE, Holly (NDP-New Democratic Party) 19.8%
St. John’s East
- HARRIS, Jack (NDP-New Democratic Party) – Elected 46.9%
- PETERS, David (Green Party) 1.8%
- WALL, Joedy (Conservative) 18.1%
- WHALEN, Nick (Liberal) 33.2%
St. John’s South – Mount Pearl
- ANONSEN, Anne Marie (NDP-New Democratic Party) 27.1%
- HAYWARD, Alexandra (Green Party) 1.8%
- JONES, David (Christian Heritage Party) 0.3%
- MARTIN, Terry (Conservative) 19.1%
- O’REGAN, Seamus (Liberal) – Elected 50.9%
- RUCKPAUL, Benjamin (People’s Party) 0.8%