The Saskatchewan Party won its fifth consecutive majority government on Monday, CBC projected, but the legislature will be very different this time around.

Saskatchewan. The NDP has seen a surge in support and is expected to win or lead in 26 ridings, nearly doubling the size of the opposition in the legislature and winning several key urban ridings.

That leaves Premier-elect Scott Moe to form a government with a smaller Saskatchewan. Party of 35 candidates projected to win or lead, and is missing several former ministers when naming its next cabinet.

With seven seats still too close to vote by phone and mail it is not expected to count until Wednesdayhere are three things to know about how Saskatchewan voted:

NDP dominates Regina and Saskatoon as rural-urban divide seems wider than ever

Saskatchewan’s rural-urban divide persisted at the polls, with the NDP projected to win 11 of Regina’s 12 ridings and lead in the other, and projected to win or lead in all but two seats in Saskatoon .

These gains included several battlegrounds like Regina Northeast, Regina Pasqua, Saskatoon Stonebridge and Saskatoon Churchill-Wildwood, where the redistribution of electoral districts since 2020 has reduced the Saskatchewan Party’s margins of victory.

Saskatchewan. The party retained most of its rural strongholds and appears to have held several ridings in smaller cities like Prince Albert and Moose Jaw, where the NDP hoped to make gains. However, the Prince Albert Northcote seat remains too close to win, with the Saskatchewan Party leading the NDP by 125 votes as of Monday night.

The divide between rural and urban areas was not entirely black and white. The NDP is also expected to retake the majority-Indigenous riding of Athabasca, which covers the northwest of the province, a long-time stronghold of the NDP won by Saskatchewan. Stand in a 2022 by-election. He also retained his seat in Cumberland, in the northeast of the province.

“We have changed the landscape of this province,” NDP Leader Carla Beck said in her concession speech Monday night.

Donna Harpauer, an alumna from Saskatchewan. The party minister, who did not stand in the election, said the results showed the gap was “once again quite wide”, as has been the case in the past.

“It will be up to the new government to close that gap again and bring urban and rural areas together again,” she told CBC News.

“At the end of the day, in this province of Saskatchewan, we are very much in the center, and in order for urban and rural areas to continue to support you and the initiatives that you put forward, you always have to stay in the center and the new government must be aware of this.”

3 ministers expected to lose seats, 2 late

The NDP’s gains in the cities were expected to unseat three former ministers, while two others trailed by the end of the night.

Former Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre (Saskatoon Stonebridge), former Social Services Minister Gene Makowsky (University of Regina) and former Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross (Regina Rochdale) were all expected losing their seat to their New Democratic opponents.

Former Environment Minister Christine Tell (Regina Wascana Plains) and former Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Paul Merriman (Saskatoon Silverspring) both trailed the NDP candidates, but no winner has yet been projected in these districts.

The losses mean a major blow to the ministerial and legislative experience of Moe’s next cabinet, as well as the likely loss of three of his four female ministers.

Moe, for his part, said in his victory speech that he would listen to the “message” voters would send to his government.

“When we launched this campaign, we knew it would be difficult. Recent history has not been kind to the majority ruling parties in this country or around the world,” he said. “But we also thought we had a message and we had a record that we could be proud of.”

Small parties are declining, but vote sharing remains relevant

None of the province’s smaller parties — the Saskatchewan United Party (SUP), the Buffalo Party, the Progressive Conservatives, the Saskatchewan Progress Party or the Greens — were expected to win or even secure second place in a riding, but the SUP always seems to have succeeded. played a small role.

Moe is concerned about Saskatchewan’s vote split. United could come true and cost him his seat at Regina Wascana Plains. The NDP is currently projected to win with 47.1 percent of the vote, while Tell, of the Saskatchewan party, has 43.2 percent and Saskatchewan. United owns 4.5 percent.

However, Saskatchewan. United’s overall vote share is very low compared to the Saskatchewan Party’s 53 percent and the NDP’s 39.4 percent popular support. The SUP received 4 percent of the popular vote, while the other parties received a total of 3.7 percent.