Scott Moe Edges Out Koch in Exciting SaskParty Election

Peter Lozinski and Prince Albert Daily Herald

It was a close race to the finish, but Shellbrook-Rosthern MLA Scott Moe is the new premier of
Saskatchewan.

It took all five rounds to reach a candidate, as first round results showed both Scott Moe and Alanna Koch with just over 25 per cent of the vote, with Ken Cheveldayoff only slightly behind, and Gord Wyant also receiving over 20 per cent of the popular vote.

After the final round, Moe had 8,075 votes, or 53 per cent.

The voter turnout was 63 per cent, with 17,159 ballots cast.

A candidate has to receive at least 50 per cent of the vote to win the leadership vote. Voters ranked their candidates in order of favourite to least favourite. As candidates got eliminated, people who voted for them had their votes redistributed according to their ranked preference.
As Tina Beudry-Mellor and Rob Clarke only received a very small portion of the vote, when they were eliminated it didn’t have much of an effect on who was leading. But when Wyant was eliminated, several of his voters went to Moe, who then jumped ahead of Koch.
Koch led those first two rounds, but wasn’t able to close the gap after the majority of voters for both

Wyant and Cheveldayoff ranked Moe higher than Koch, leading to his victory.

Scott Moe’s supporters exploded following the announcement. Prince Albert Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave was right in the throes of it, hugging fellow supporters and celebrating with Moe.
After the convention, Hargrave said he wasn’t at all surprised by Moe’s victory.

moose jawJanuary 28, 2018