Regina – With Saskatchewan’s 2020 general election poised to take place on Monday, Oct. 26, these are the starting positions for each of the registered political parties.
There are 61 seats in the Saskatchewan Legislature. At the conclusion of the Fourth Session of the Twenty-eighth Legislature, two seats were vacant – Saskatoon Eastview and Regina Walsh Acres. The Saskatchewan Party, as government, held 46. The official opposition New Democratic Party held 13. None of the other registered parties held seats in the Legislature.
According to the Elections Saskatchewan website, as of Sept. 28, there are 6 registered political parties in Saskatchewan:
Buffalo Party
New Democratic Party (NDP)
PC Party of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Green Party
Saskatchewan Liberal Party
Saskatchewan Party
The Buffalo Party of Saskatchewan changed its name from Wexit Saskatchewan in early July. The leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, Naveed Anwar, stepped down from that position on Sept. 9. On Sept. 28, Robert Rudachyk has been appointed as interim party leader for the Liberals, according to their website.
As of Sept. 28, the Saskatchewan Party was the only party to have a full slate of 61 candidates registered with Elections Saskatchewan. On that date, the NDP had 44, but they had 55 candidates listed on the party website. A number of nominations took place in recent days.
The Buffalo Party had zero candidates registered with Elections Saskatchewan, but had eight candidates listed on its website.
The Saskatchewan Green Party had 16 candidates registered with Elections Saskatchewan, but their website only showed 11 as of Sept. 28.
As for the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, their website showed three candidates, but none had yet been registered with Elections Saskatchewan as of Sept. 28.
The PC Party of Saskatchewan (as registered), or the Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, had 15 candidates listed on its website, but 16 registered with Elections Saskatchewan.
Three independent candidates were registered, all in Regina constituencies. Rolf Hartloff was registered in Regina Elphinstone-Centre, Trevor Wowk was in Regina Lakeview, and Nestor Mryglod was in Regina Wascana Plains.
Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Estevan Mercury
