Three provincial byelections are to be held on June 23 after writs were issued on Monday.
The byelections are to fill vacant seats in the legislature, specifically those for Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Ellerslie, and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
Candidate nominations for the races are open until 2 p.m. on June 5, though many candidates have already been selected.
Edmonton-Strathcona has been vacant since Rachel Notley stepped down effective Dec. 30, a period of nearly five months, just one shy of the legislated time limit.
That seat will be contested chiefly between Alberta New Democrat leader Naheed Nenshi and United Conservative candidate and current government press secretary Darby Crouch.
The riding has had an NDP representative since 1997 and was also the riding of former NDP leader Raj Pannu.
The seat for Edmonton-Ellerslie was vacated by the NDP’s Rod Loyola, who left to run in last month’s federal election after winning three consecutive elections in the constituency.
Gurtej Singh Brar is seeking to retain the seat for the NDP and will be most immediately challenged by the UCP’s Naresh Bhadwaj, who represented the riding for the former Progressive Conservative Party after winning in the same riding in both 2008 and 2012.
Ellerslie is also home to one of two separatist candidates running with the Republican Party of Alberta’s Fred Munn, also seeking the seat.
The riding has been represented by three different parties since it was first contested in 1993.
The seat for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills had been occupied since 2015 by
MLA Nathan Cooper
, who is set to depart the province to represent Alberta in Washington.
Premier Danielle Smith used a clause in the UCP’s constitution to forego an open nomination race and selected Alberta Grains chairperson Tara Sawyer as the party’s candidate.
The separatist Republican Party’s leader Cameron Davies is also set to contest the race, which has been won by candidates for conservative-leaning parties since it was created in 1997.
The NDP nomination process for the race is ongoing, and a candidate is expected to be announced later this week.
There are currently 46 United Conservative MLAs, 36 with the NDP, two independent members, along with the three vacant seats to be decided next month.
mblack@postmedia.com
