Alberta NDP hangs on to Lethbridge-West in byelection [Video]

LETHBRIDGE –

What was expected to be a tight byelection took nearly three hours to call.

Rob Miyashiro won to keep Lethbridge-West for the Alberta NDP.

“It was fairly close; approximately 1,000 votes between the two of them,” said Lars Hallstrom, a professor of political science at the University of Lethbridge.

“We did see Rob (Miyashiro) win, which was sort of as anticipated.”

Miyashiro led the way with 7,239 votes, followed by the UCP’s John Middleton-Hope with 6,089.

The Alberta Party’s Layton Veverka managed 233 votes.

This was Miyashiro’s second time running for a seat in the legislature, he previously lost to Nathan Neudorf in Lethbridge-East in the 2023 general election.

He is set to become the first person of Japanese ancestry to serve in the Alberta legislature.

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi was in Lethbridge to support Miyashiro.

The byelection was seen by some as a barometer of popularity for Nenshi but despite the win, some political analysts aren’t …