P.E.I. NDP will continue to fight for a place in Island politics

The P.E.I. provincial election did not have the result the NDP had hoped for. The party gained no seats in the legislature and only garnered about 2,400 votes across the province.

The strongest showing was NDP candidate Herb Dickiesonwho lost to Liberal incumbent Robert Hendersonby 209 votes.

Despite the result NDP Leader Joe Byrne said the party will keep on fighting for a voice in Island politics.

"The results weren't what we were expecting, but that is politics today. Democracy is alive and well on P.E.I. and as a party we just have to figure a way forward," he said.

The P.E.I. PC Party under the leadership of Dennis King is expected to form a minority government. The Tories came away with 12 seats, two shy of establishing a majority government.

The Greens, underthe leadershipof Peter Bevan-Baker grabbed eightseats to form an Official Opposition and the outgoing Liberal government dropped down to sixMLAs, with outgoing premier Wade MacLauchlan losing his seat.

"I want to say congratulations to Dennis and Peter for some excellent results. And thank you to Wade," Byrne said.

Message not getting across

Byrne isn't sure why the NDP message isn't getting through toIsland voters.

"I think at the doorsteps and coffee shops we had lots of positive feedback. We had lots of positive feedback around the debates," he said.

"We have to take that message that we received last night and say, 'Okay where do we go now?'"

A new day

Byrne said today is a new day, for him and the party.

"Our job is to transform the world, and I'm the leader of the party. Wehave conversations in our party every year, there is a chance to review the leadership. So, that's a conversation between me and the party and including my family, but the transformation of the world has to continue."

He said he hasn't made a decision yet on if he will remain with the party.

"I won't make any decisions like that without talking to the council and executive."

However, Byrne said at this point he feels the NDP message is the right one,the issue of not getting through to voters is something the provincial council and executive will look at.

Byrne came in fourth his district CharlottetownVictoria Park, losing to Green candidate Karla Bernard.

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