Student Vote Manitoba: The Results
Pallister and the PC Party win majority government in province-wide Student Vote
More than 20,000 elementary and high school students participated in the Student Vote program for the 2016 Manitoba provincial election.
After learning about the democratic process, researching the candidates and party platforms, and debating the future of Manitoba, students cast ballots for the official candidates running in their local electoral divisions.
By 4 p.m. today, 243 schools had reported their election results, representing all 57 electoral divisions in the province. In total, 21,159 ballots were cast by student participants; 20,100 valid votes, 801 rejected votes and 258 declined ballots.
There were many close races in the province, with 7 electoral divisions decided by 10 votes or fewer.
Students elected Brian Pallister and the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba to a majority government with 30 seats and 35.4 per cent of the vote. Party leader Brian Pallister won in his electoral division of Fort Whyte with 55.2 per cent of the vote.
The NDP won 14 seats and will form the Student Vote official opposition, receiving 27.3 per cent of the popular vote. Party leader Greg Selinger was defeated in the St. Boniface electoral division.
The Manitoba Liberal Party won 11 seats and received 23.8 per cent of the vote. Party leader Rana Bokhari did not win in her electoral division of Fort Rouge.
The Green Party won 2 seats with 9.6 per cent of the vote. Party leader James Beddome was not elected in his electoral division of Fort Garry-Riverview.
“CIVIX would like to thank all of the dedicated teachers for leading Student Vote in their schools, many for a second time this school year,” said Taylor Gunn, President and Chief Election Officer of CIVIX. “This impressive Student Vote participation is a reflection of the incredible effort put forth by Manitoba educators to ensure that students build the habits of active and informed citizenship at an early age.”
This is the second provincial-level Student Vote project conducted in Manitoba. In 2011, 17,560 students participated from 186 schools.
The 2016 project was made possible by the Youth Take Charge program at the Government of Canada and the Winnipeg Foundation.
VIEW COMPLETE RESULTS HERE: http://studentvote.ca/results/mb2016
Results Highlights:
- Only one political party leader won their seat: Brian Pallister (PC Party) in Fort Whyte. Greg Selinger (NDP), Rana Bokhari (Liberal), James Beddome (Green), Darrell Rankin (Communist) and Gary Marshall (Manitoba Party) were defeated in their electoral divisions.
- The electoral division of Assiniboia had the greatest number of participants with 1,097 valid votes. Fort Richmond was second with 1,026, followed by Kildonan with 833.
- Midland had 12 schools report results – more than any other electoral division.
Background:
Student Vote is the flagship program of CIVIX.
CIVIX is a national civic education charity building the skills and habits of citizenship among young Canadians.
CIVIX coordinated the Student Vote program for the 2016 Manitoba provincial election with support from the Government of Canada and The Winnipeg Foundation.