Susan Holt becomes New Brunswick’s 1st female premier in Liberal majority

Nearly all polling stations in New Brunswick are now closed.

Initial results will start pouring in shortly from returning offices, which have the advanced poll tabulation machines in their offices.

About 150,000 ballots were cast during the province's two days of advance voting and at special polls at universities, hospitals and care homes.

As of at 7:53 p.m Monday evening, 370,199 votes had been cast out of 568,944 registered electors. In 2020, by comparison, 378,169 people voted in total, about 66 per cent of registered voters.

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs is hoping to win a third term in office, which would make him the first premier to do so since Liberal Frank McKenna in 1995.

Liberal Leader Susan Holt hopes to lead her party back to power after six years on the opposition benches. A win would make her the first female premier in New Brunswick.

And the Green Party, seemingly entrenched as the province's third party on the left of the political spectrum, aims to re-elect its three MLAs who first won in 2018 and secured new terms in 2020.

The NDP, the People's Alliance and the Libertarian parties have candidates on the ballot in some ridings, while two other parties, the Social Justice Party and the Consensus Party, failed to nominate enough candidates to remain officially registered.

Two polls staying open a bit longer

Two polling locations were expected to be open past 8 p.m. on Monday because of logistical issues that kept them from opening at 10 a.m., as scheduled.

The Dennis Morris polling station in Saint John West-Lancaster opened 25 minutes late, while the Club de L'Age D'Or polling station in Saint-Jacques, in the riding of Madawaska Les Lacs-Edmundston, opened 10 minutes late.

Each will stay open for the corresponding amount of time past 8 p.m.

CBC News will have live coverage of the results across all of its platforms. For complete campaign coverage, visit New Brunswick Votes 2024.

Follow the full election results here.