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Provincial NDP candidates confirmed by recount sworn in today

The last two NDP MLAs elected in nail-biter votes in the Oct. 4 provincial election were sworn in today at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

It means the next time the legislature sits — when the budget is tabled this spring — Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert.) and Sharon Blady (Kirkfield Park) can takes their seats in the government benches. In the short session that ended Nov. 1, both MLAs sat in the public gallery for question period.

The two New Democrat wins went to automatic judicial recounts because they won by fewer than 50 votes.

The outcomes of the recounts gave Gaudreau a 31-vote lead over Progressive Conservative candidate Karen Velthuys and Blady 21 more votes than PC candidate Kelly de Groot.

The Oct. 4 vote gave the NDP strong a majority in the legislature with 37 of the 57 seats. The Tories have 19 seats and the Liberals have one.

However, the popular vote narrowed considerably between the NDP and the opposition Tories. The Tories won 44 per cent of the popular vote just slightly behind the NDP’s 45.8 per cent, but not enough to pick up any new seats. Approximately 31,000 more Manitobans voted for a Tory in 2011 than in 2007.

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