MANITOBA VOTES 2023: Kinew, NDP, to form government in Manitoba

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This article was published 03/10/2023 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has elected the first First Nations provincial premier in Canadian history.

Wab Kinew will become the political leader of Manitoba, after the New Democratic Party was projected to win a majority government on the strength of their performance inside the Perimeter Highway.

Other First Nations premiers have lead territories in Canada, but not provinces.

The popular vote in the province was close, with the NDP holding a two-point advantage at the time the election was called by media outlets.

No matter the outcome, Manitoba would have had a historic result, as if the Progressive Conservatives would have won the election, their leader, Heather Stefanson, would have become the first elected woman premier in Manitoba history.

The PCs were nearly swept out of Winnipeg, where the majority of the province’s population lives.

The Liberals were also hit hard, winning only one seat. Party leader Dougald Lamont resigned after seeing most of the results come in and projecting he would lose his own seat in St Boniface.

It was a historic election for more than just the results at the party leader level. More than 200,000 voters cast a ballot at the advanced polls, a record for Manitoba, although those votes were not counted until the election day polls closed.

This was also the first time residents could vote in their home riding from elsewhere in the province.

This election marked the first time the province has used an electronic vote counting system for a provincial election, although results in some ridings were still slow to come in, with Elections Manitoba having problems reporting votes to their own website throughout the night.