2012 Alberta general election

2012 Alberta general election

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87 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 44 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	54.37%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Alison Redford Danielle Smith Raj Sherman Party Progressive Conservative Wildrose Liberal Leader since October 2, 2011 October 17, 2009 September 10, 2011 Leader's seat Calgary-Elbow Highwood Edmonton-Meadowlark Last election 72 seats, 52.7% 0 seats, 6.8% 9 seats, 26.4% Seats before 66 4 8 Seats won 61 17 5 Seat change 5 13 3 Popular vote 567,312 442,325 127,626 Percentage 43.97% 34.28% 9.89% Swing 8.8pp 27.5pp 16.5pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Brian Mason Glenn Taylor Party New Democratic Alberta Party Leader since July 13, 2004 May 28, 2011 Leader's seat Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood ran in West Yellowhead (lost) Last election 2 seats, 8.5% 0 seats, 0.0% Seats before 2 1 Seats won 4 0 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 127,074 16,959 Percentage 9.85% 1.31% Swing 1.3pp 1.3pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is a first-past-the-post election, seat totals are not determined by total popular vote, but instead by results in each riding. Riding names are listed at the bottom.
Premier before election Alison Redford Progressive Conservative Premier after election Alison Redford Progressive Conservative

The 2012 Alberta general election was held on April 23, 2012, to elect members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Alberta. A Senate nominee election was called for the same day.^[1]

During the 2011 Progressive Conservative Association leadership election, eventual winner Alison Redford stated that if she became Premier she intended to pass legislation setting a fixed election date. After taking office, her government introduced a bill relating to the timing of elections, which was passed on December 6, 2011.^[2] Unlike other fixed election date legislation in Canada, the 2011 Election Amendment Act fixes the election to a three-month period, between March 1 and May 31 in the fourth calendar year. However, like other legislation, this does not affect the powers of the Lieutenant Governor to dissolve the Legislature before this period.^[3] The writs of elections were dropped March 26, 2012.

Although the Wildrose Party led opinion polls for much of the campaign, on election night the Progressive Conservatives defied expectations to win 61 seats – a net loss of only five – en route to their 12th consecutive majority government. It is colloqually known as the "Lake of Fire" election for a series of controversies by Wildrose candidates, perceived to have hampered the party's campaign.^[4][5][6][7]

The victory made Redford the third woman elected in her own right as a provincial premier in Canada (after Catherine Callbeck in Prince Edward Island in 1993, and Kathy Dunderdale in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011), and the first woman elected premier in a province outside Atlantic Canada. On September 4, 2014, the Alberta PC Party became the longest-running provincial government in Canadian history. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith would later become the 19th premier of Alberta in October 2022, as leader of the United Conservative Party.

Overall, across the province, 1,290,352 valid votes were cast in this election.^[8]