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With polls closed, Sask. waits to hear who will lead the province next

Early results for Saskatchewan’s 2024 provincial election have started to come in.

There are 61 seats in the Legislature, which means a party needs 31 ridings to form a majority government. 

CBC will continue populating this page with live results as soon as they come in from Elections Saskatchewan.

For more information on how to watch and listen, check out our election night coverage page here.

WATCH | How CBC’s decision desk ‘calls’ an election:

How CBC’s decision desk ‘calls’ an election

15 hours ago

Duration 1:48

How does the CBC make projections in an election? Well, let’s 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.

Over the past month of campaigning, parties have duelled over issues like health care, safety, education and affordability.

The Saskatchewan Party is looking to form its fifth consecutive government, while the Saskatchewan NDP looks to return to power for the first time since 2007.

Five other parties are also on the ballot: the Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan, the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Green Party, the Saskatchewan Progress Party and the Saskatchewan United Party.

Entering the 2024 election, the governing Saskatchewan Party held 42 of the 61 seats in the legislature, while the Opposition NDP had 14. Three seats were held by Independents and one by Saskatchewan United.

One seat was vacant after Gordon Wyant, a Saskatchewan Party MLA, resigned to run as a candidate in Saskatoon’s upcoming mayoral race.

In the 2020 election, the Saskatchewan Party formed government with 48 seats to the NDP’s 13. No other party landed a seat in the legislature.

A few seats changed hands following that election — the NDP took control of two Regina seats in byelections but lost its long-held Athabasca seat, in the province’s north, to the Saskatchewan Party.

Three MLAs elected as Saskatchewan Party candidates in 2020 — Randy Weekes, Ryan Domotor and Greg Lawrence — were sitting as Independents when the election was called.

Nadine Wilson, who was also elected as a Saskatchewan Party candidate, later sat as an Independent and then a member of the Saskatchewan United Party.

Election workers will now start counting ballots by hand. Saskatchewan’s chief electoral officer has said he expects the count to take until midnight. Last year, the Saskatchewan Party government voted to ban counting machines in the provincial election, rejecting the officer’s recommendation.

Early voting over five days totalled 273,010, about 33 per cent of the province’s nearly 811,000 eligible voters, according to Elections Saskatchewan. In the 2020 election, 184,742 people cast a ballot in early voting.

Overall turnout in the 2020 election hit 52.9 per cent, the second lowest in Saskatchewan’s history dating back to 1982.

About 32,000 people applied to vote by mail this time, according to chief electoral officer, Michael Boda. Those received by Saturday will be counted on Oct. 30. 

Boda said the final vote count will happen on Nov. 9, including mail-in ballots received after Saturday.

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