The Liberals swept three provincial byelections in New Brunswick on Monday allowing the provincial party leader to finally take a seat in the legislature.
Susan Holt, who was chosen leader of the Liberals last summer, took her riding of Bathurst East-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore with 2343 votes compared to her nearest rival Serge Brideau (Green Party) who captured 1411 votes, while Alex White (NDP) garnered 227 votes.
The Progressive Conservatives decided not to run a candidate to allow the opposition leader to win a seat in a riding formerly held by longtime Liberal MLA Denis Landry.
Voter turnout was barely 35 percent.
In the Dieppe riding, Liberal candidate and political newcomer Richard Losier easily won with 2424 votes over rivals Chantal Landry (Green Party) with 651 votes, Dean Léonard (Progressive Conservative) had 298 votes and Cyprien Okana (NDP) had 96 votes.
Liberal MLA Roger Melanson vacated the seat last fall for a job in the private sector.
Voter turnout was even lower in Dieppe at 31.4 percent.
In the riding of Restigouche-Chaleur, Liberal candidate Marco LeBlanc won with 2462 votes, Rachel Boudreau (Green Party) came second with 1541 votes, Anne Bard-Lavigne (Progressive Conservative) had 771 votes and Alex Gagne (NDP) had 95 votes.
Liberal MLA Daniel Guitard previously held the seat.
Voter turnout was about 43 percent which was the highest among the three byelections.
The Liberals now have 16 seats in the provincial legislature, compared to 30 seats for the Progressive Conservatives and three seats for the Greens.
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