Scott Moe secured his second term as premier and his Saskatchewan Party retained government for a fifth consecutive majority, CTV News projected Monday evening. But the party did not retain all of its seats.

The Saskatchewan NDP is expected to win twice as many seats as it claimed in the 2020 election, after gaining ground in Regina and Saskatoon.

Rural-urban divide among voters

The Saskatchewan Party dominated the rural vote as in previous elections, but fell flat in the big cities.

“Their results have been pretty poor in Saskatoon and Regina, to the point where it doesn’t look like they’re going to have any MPs in Regina, whereas they might have one or two in Saskatoon,” said Daniel Westlake, professor in political studies at the University of Regina. University of Saskatchewan.

“This suggests the need for the party to think carefully about how it approaches the more urban areas of the province. »

Despite the results, Moe assured voters that the province was not divided during his victory speech.

“The Saskatchewan Party will be a government that works for all the people of Saskatchewan,” Moe said.

“No matter who you voted for in this election, you did so because you wanted what was best for the province we know, love and live in. And in this, I would say, each of us is united.

Carla Beck’s NDP won all 12 seats in Regina and all but two seats in Saskatoon. The Saskatchewan Party is ahead in both ridings, but the results were too close to be called on election night and will be decided once mail-in ballots are counted.

“Excellent for the NDP compared to its situation during the last three elections. But that’s not where they need to be if they want to compete for government,” Westlake said.

“They haven’t made any inroads outside of Saskatoon and Regina.”

New faces in the office

In order to make gains in big cities, the NDP had to unseat several long-standing Saskatchewans. Party deputies.

Five prominent ministers are expected to lose their seats, including the Attorney General, the Minister of Social Services, the Minister of the Environment, the Minister of Correctional Services and the Minister of Parks, Culture and Sports.

“When we launched this campaign, we knew it was going to be a difficult campaign. Recent history has not been kind to the majority ruling parties in power,” Moe said.

Urban upheaval means the Saskatchewan Party will have to rely heavily on rural MPs and new faces to lead ministry portfolios.

“They won’t have anyone from Regina to appoint to cabinet,” Westlake said.

“This is going to be a difficult thing for Saskatchewan. The party moves forward.

The “race for domination” continues

Despite some challenges facing the Saskatchewan Party in the near future, early results suggest the party will come away with more than half of the popular vote for the fifth consecutive election.

“It’s not something that happens in a lot of provinces,” Westlake said.

Westlake points the finger at Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives. The party governed from 1971 to 2015, but never received 50 percent of the popular vote in five consecutive elections.

“A win is a win, and it perpetuates a party dominance that is quite significant in Canadian politics,” Westlake said.