It may be three years later, but the voters in the Lacombe-Ponoka constituency have again elected a Wildrose MLA.
Clive-based minister Ron Orr was elected as MLA on Tuesday night during the provincial election.
According to the unofficial election results, a total of 18,208 votes were cast in the area covering Blackfalds, Lacombe, Clive, Mirror and Ponoka.
Orr received the most votes with 35.7% of the vote, totaling 6,502.
Alberta NDP candidate Doug Hart came in a close second with 30% of the vote, totaling 5,481 votes.
PC candidate Peter DeWit received 27% of the vote, with 5,020 votes cast in his favour.
Alberta Party candidate Tony Jeglum received 6% of the vote, totaling 1,205 votes.
In his victory speech at the Wildrose party at the Lacombe Memorial Centre, Orr said that the party literally came from the bottom and rose to the top once again.
“And now the real work begins,” he told the supporters who had gathered to celebrate. “We have a lot to repair in our province and it’s going to take a great deal of effort and hopefulness.”
Provincially, the polls told another story with a landmark election that will go down in the history of Alberta.
An Alberta NDP majority government was declared 30 minutes after the closure of the polls.
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley was soon declared as the new premier of the province.
For many the results were not a surprise as recent polls showed the Progressive Conservative party (PC), lagging behind both the Wildrose Party and the NDP.
In the end the NDP swept up most of the province, with candidates from the party winning many of the 87 seats in the legislature.
For the PCs, the loss was seen as devastating, with former premier Jim Prentice announcing he was stepping down as leader of the province and as MLA for Calgary-Foothills, the seat in the legislature that he had just won.
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