EDMONTON: Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre is set to return to Parliament after a decisive victory in the by-election for Alberta’s Battle River-Crowfoot riding. The win secures his place in the House of Commons. With 265 of 286 polls reporting, Poilievre leads with 34,631 votes (80.1 per cent), followed by Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley with 4,298 votes (9.9 per cent) and Liberal Darcy Spady with 1,885 (4.4 per cent).
The by-election was held after Damien Kurek, the Conservative Party MP for Battle River-Crowfoot, resigned from his seat to allow Poilievre to run. The move was made to provide a path for the Conservative leader to secure a seat in the House of Commons.
Battle River-Crowfoot is considered a party stronghold. Poilievre faced more than two hundred candidates in the race, many of whom were part of the ‘Longest Ballot Committee.’ Due to the unusually high number of candidates, voters were required to write in the name of their preferred candidate on the ballot. The riding has over 86,000 registered voters, with more than 14,000 people having cast their votes in advance.
