The 24th general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada, was held on March 11, 1997 to elect members of the Alberta legislature.
Ralph Klein's second election as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party was considerably more successful than his first. The PC Party won over half the popular vote, and 63 of the 83 seats in the legislature for its eighth consecutive term in government.
The Liberal Party of Grant Mitchell lost about 7% of the popular vote it had won in the 1993 election. The party's legislative caucus was reduced from 32 members to 18.
Pam Barrett led the New Democratic Party back into the legislature with two seats (both in Edmonton), despite winning an even smaller share of the popular vote than in 1993.
The Social Credit Party also re-emerged, but did not win any seats.
| Party
| Party Leader
| # of candidates
| Seats
| Popular Vote
|
| Previous
| After
| % Change
| #
| %
| Change
|
| Progressive Conservative
| | 83
| 51
| 63
| +23.5%
| 483,914
| 51.17%
| +6.68%
|
| Liberal
| | 83
| 32
| 18
| -43.8%
| 309,748
| 32.75%
| -6.98%
|
| New Democratic
| | 77
| -
| 2
|
| 83,292
| 8.81%
| -2.20%
|
| Social Credit
| | 70
| -
| -
|
| 64,667
| 6.884%
| -4.43%
|
| Natural Law
|
| 16
| -
| -
|
| 1,303
| 0.14%
| -0.37%
|
| Green
|
| 7
| -
| -
|
| 1,039
| 0.11%
| -0.09%
|
| Independent
|
| 6
| -
| -
|
| 1,092
| 0.11%
| -0.82%
|
| Forum
|
| 4
| n.a.
| -
| n.a.
| 597
| 0.06%
| n.a.
|
| Communist
|
| 1
| -
| -
|
| 61
| 0.01%
| x
|
| Total
|
| 347
| 83
| 83
| -
| 945,713
| 100.00%
|
|
| Source: Elections Alberta
|
Notes:
"Previous" refers to to standings at previous election, not to standings in the Legislature at dissolution.
n.a. = not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election
x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote
See also
List of Canadian political parties
Last updated: 07-30-2005 02:30:39
