A recount has confirmed federal NDP candidate Georgina Jolibois as the winner in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River.
The recount results, announced earlier this month, show Jolibois increased her initial 70-vote lead to 82 votes over the second-place candidate, Liberal Lawrence Joseph.
The Liberal Party requested the recount. The party previously told The Reminder it would send a news release to this newspaper if it decided on a recount. No news release came, so we reported there would be no recount.
In fact there was a recount, as announced in an Elections Canada news release of Oct. 30.
The results were announced in a Nov. 3 release issued by the agency. Justice NG Gabrielson of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench completed the recount on that day.
There’s still a chance Joseph is not be down for the count. The Liberals have until Nov. 23 to challenge the election result in court, but it’s unclear whether the party will go that route.
The Liberals said they received reports of polls in Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River temporarily running out of ballots on election night, deterring some people from voting.
Election results are rarely challenged in court on such grounds. The process involves going before a judge and asking the result be voided, meaning a by-election would take place.
Jolibois ended election night last month leading Joseph by 70 votes, a margin that increased to 71 votes when results were validated.
The four candidates in the riding received a combined total 30,213 votes
Voter turnout in the northern Saskatchewan riding was 68 per cent, 18 points higher than in the 2011 election. Conservative Rob Clarke lost the seat he had held since 2008.
Post-recount results
Desnethé-Missinippi-
Churchill River
Georgina Jolibois 10,319 votes
New Democrats
Lawrence Joseph 10,237 votes
Liberals
Rob Clarke 9,105 votes
Conservatives
Warren Koch 552 votes
Green
