NDP picks up 4 new projected seats, Sask. Party gets 1, after early mail-in vote count

CBC is projecting four more seats for the Saskatchewan NDP and one more for the Saskatchewan Party after the first round of mail-in ballots were counted on Wednesday.

Of the 61 election races in the province, CBC considers only two, Saskatoon Westview and Saskatoon Willowgrove, still too close to call.

The final tally, including remaining mail-in ballots received after Oct. 26 but before the deadline, will be counted on Nov. 9.

• CBC will continue populatingthis pagewith live results as they comein from Elections Saskatchewan.

Saskatoon Westview was the closest race heading into Wednesday, with Saskatchewan Party incumbentDavid Buckingham leading by 31 votes over the NDP's April ChiefCalf.

After the initial mail-in count, Elections Saskatchewan showed ChiefCalf leading by 37 votes after 291 out of 484 issuedmail-in ballots had beencounted. As many as193 mail-in ballots could still come in. Those would be tallied in the final count on Nov. 9.

As for Saskatoon Willowgrove, incumbent Ken Cheveldayoff leads by 178 votes after 658 mail-in ballots were counted. There are 427 mail-in ballots that could still potentially come in.

Political analystric Greniersaidhe thinks the seats will remain the same when the final counts are tallied in, with the NDP increasing the margin in Saskatoon Westview.

"It does seem that in Saskatoon as a whole, the NDP will win 13 seats and the Sask. Party will win one, if they can hold on to Willowgrove," Grenier said.

WATCH | How CBC's decision desk 'calls' an election:

How CBC's decision desk 'calls' an election

12 days ago

Duration 1:48

How does the CBC make projections in an election? Well, lets go behind the scenes and find out what goes into calls and managing coverage on election night. The team works hard to ensure that results are brought to you accurately every time.

NDP knock off 2 cabinet ministers

Long-time Saskatchewan Party MLA Christine Tell is projected to loseher re-election bid in Regina Wascana Plains to former teacher and NDP candidate Brent Blakley. The current margin of victory for Blakley stands at 505 votes.

Tell was first elected in 2007and served as minister of corrections and policing, and most recently the Minister of Environment.

CBC has also projected that the NDP has flipped Saskatoon Silverspring, Saskatoon Southeast and Saskatoon Chief Mistawasis.

Former minister of corrections and policing and health minister Paul Merriman has been defeated in Silverspringby Hugh Gordon, CBC has projected.

Merriman becomes the fifth cabinet minister out of five in Saskatoon or Regina to be projected to lose their seat in this election.

The mail-in vote increased Gordon's margin from 258 votes to 391.

In Saskatoon Southeast, Brittney Sengerof the NDP has a 409-vote margin over John Owojori of the Saskatchewan Party with 396 potential mail-in ballots to come. Sengeris projected to represent an area held by the Saskatchewan Party for 21 years.

The Saskatchewan Party's Don Morgan was the MLA for Saskatoon Southeastsince 2003.

CBC has also projected the NDP's Don McBeanto win in Saskatoon Chief Mistawasis. After a first mail-in vote, McBeanhas a 512-vote advantage over the Saskatchewan Party's Parminder Singh.

Sask. Party holds Prince Albert Northcote

CBC has also projected the Saskatchewan Party to retain the seat in Prince Albert Northcote. Incumbent Alana Ross is projected to hold off Nicole Rancourt of the NDP for a second straight election. The margin in that vote sits at 133 votes.

These new projections bring the total number of projected seats to 33 for the Sask. Party and 26 for the NDP. In Saskatchewan, 31 seats are needed for a majority.

Saskatchewan's chief electoral officer Michael Boda expects the first mail-in ballot count,which could offer a more definitive picture of how the legislative assembly will look, to be completed by early Wednesday evening.

Election workers began counting mail-in ballots received by Oct. 26 at 9:30 a.m. CST in Regina.

There were 32,467 vote-by-mail applications provincewide, with 20,417 ballots received by Oct. 26 to be counted on Wednesday.

Boda said priority was given to nine constituencies where the number of mail-in ballots returned could still mathematically alter the current party standings.

Boda pleased with election operations

Boda said he's happy with how the vote counting processhasgone.

"Overall, it went very very well. We trained for this election and I think it showed across the province," Boda said.

Results from the cities trickled in slowly Monday night, with the first being posted around 10:30 p.m. CST, more than two hours after polls had closed.

Boda said rural areas had boxes with fewer ballots, which expedited counting.

Boda had recommended using vote tabulators, which were used in byelections, but that recommendation was voted down by a committee of MLAs.

He said Elections Saskatchewan instead added 500 vote counters in areas where they were needed.

"We did not want the count lasting until 3 a.m.," Boda said.

"You saw that people engaged with the accessibility with the convenience of having six of seven days to vote. My recommendation is that we would continue down that road."