The United Conservative Party's (UCP) Miranda Rosin has officially won the Banff-Kananaskis election race.
Cam Westhead, the incumbent NDP candidate, conceded defeat April 19 after Elections Alberta released one of two remaining advanced polls overnight, which indicated Rosin had earned enough votes to beat her competitor.
"After a long and suspenseful five-day wait, I am honoured to wake up today as your official member-elect for Banff-Kananaskis," Rosin said in a Facebook post. "This race has been an absolute nail-biter, but the results all across Alberta could not be more exciting."
She took the opportunity to thank her campaign team, volunteers and supporters for putting their trust in her, and also thanked Westhead for his hard work and service.
"While a lot of work was put into our campaign by a lot of people, the real work begins now," wrote Rosin in a message to Great West Newspapers.
Westhead graciously accepted his defeat earlier that morning.
"I want to congratulate Miranda Rosin on her victory. While this is not the outcome I'd hoped for, I respect Albertans’ choice in this election. I also want to thank the other candidates for putting their names forward and participating in democracy," wrote Westhead in a Facebook post.
"It has been an honour and a privilege serving the people of Banff-Cochrane, who are as inspiring as the landscapes that surround them. Together, we made great strides towards addressing priorities like affordability and protecting the environment."
With all 98 polls now accounted for, the unofficial results show Rosin earned 10,815 votes, or 51.2 per cent of the vote, while Westhead earned 8,889 votes, or 42.1 per cent.
On election night April 16, the vote difference between the two top candidates was 672 votes; however, there were still 2,607 ballots to count from Banff-Kananaskis voters who cast their “vote anywhere” ballots outside of the riding.
A major factor that played a role in Westhead's loss, according to his campaign manager Stephen Legault, was the changes made to the riding. Cochrane was removed from the new Banff-Kananaskis riding, and the inclusion of polls in Priddis, Millarville and Springbank areas changed the electoral math dramatically.
"We lost eight polls that voted NDP in 2015 and only picked up one marginal NDP poll from the Rockyview-Chestermere riding," wrote Legault in a Facebook post.
The victory makes it a clean sweep for the UCP in all five Rocky View County ridings.
