LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Election officials will be recounting votes in the Little Bow riding in southern Alberta.
Wildrose candidate Dave Schneider beat incumbent Progressive Conservative Ian Donovan by just 12 votes on Tuesday night.
Little Bow returning officer Virginia Wauters says it’ll be a while before a definitive winner is declared.
She says the returning officer and the election clerk will count the more than 13,000 votes again. After that, a candidate can also request a judicial recount.
Schneider had 4,803 votes and Ian Donovan with 4,791.
READ MORE: Wildrose MLAs leave party to join PCs
Donovan was elected as a Wildrose MLA before crossing the floor with colleague Kerry Towle in November 2014 to join the PCs.
“I respect Danielle Smith to the utmost… It’s hard to follow somebody when they say they’re not sure they’re going to lead the team if they don’t win the next game,” explained Donovan at the time.
“For my constituents, I think I can do the best from the inside, making decisions around the table with the governing party, under the new leadership of Premier Prentice.”
Nine other Wildrose MLAs later crossed the floor to join Prentice’s Tories, including Smith.
Of the 11 floor-crosser ridings, just five ran for re-election on May 5. Not one of those ridings ended up voting PC.
BY THE NUMBERS: Alberta Election 2015
Elections Alberta says the results of all 87 ridings will be recounted over the next few days and the official results will be published on Friday, May 15.
In the case of a tie, Elections Alberta will apply to the court for an official recount. In other close ridings, a candidate can apply for a court recount, but only if the request is based on a concern over the number of disputed ballots or if they feel there was a mis-count.
With files from CJOC and Emily Mertz, Global News
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