The Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador has requested judicial recounts in the districts of Placentia West-Bellevue, Topsail-Paradise and Lewisporte-Twillingate.
Brian Keating, Dan Bobbett and Derek Bennett ran for the Liberals in those districts in the latest provincial election.
In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon the party said a judicial recount in the three districts, where the election result margins are narrow, will “ensure that every vote is properly accounted for in accordance with legislation and in respect of the democratic process.”
Placentia West-Bellevue went to Progressive Conservative incumbent Jeff Dwyer on election night, beating Keating by 64 votes.
Bobbett also lost his race to a PC incumbent, with Paul Dinn holding his seat in Topsail-Paradise with a 102-vote lead.
Bennett lost his seat in Lewisporte-Twillingate to PC Mark Butt by only 18 votes. Bennett, also the former house speaker, submitted an application to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday.
The province has a high threshold for electoral recounts for circumstances that fall outside of a 10-vote margin. In fact, a judge denied former NDP leader Alison Coffin a recount in 2021 when she lost to former Liberal John Abbott by 53 votes.
Two of the races the Liberals wish to have recounted have an even larger difference than that.
However, if each district flips red, it’ll give the Liberals and Tories 18 seats each inside the House of Assembly. As it stands, the PCs are in a majority government with 21 seats, and the Liberals in Official Opposition with 15.
Meanwhile, Progressive Conservative premier-designate Tony Wakeham is scheduled to be sworn in on Wednesday morning at Government House in St. John’s, along with his first cabinet.
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