Saskatchewan held a provincial election on April 4, 2016. All the seats were won by either the Saskatchewan Party or the New Democratic Party. Six parties participated, but the Liberals only won 3.6% of the popular vote (even though it is the governing party in Canada’s national government), and the Progressive Conservatives only won 1.3% of the popular vote. See this wikipedia article about the election results.
One more DARK AGE gerrymander AREA so-called election —
based on the DARK AGE U.K. gerrymander Parliament system.
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Saskatchewan has fixed election dates (but only since 2011). But there is a rule that they can not be held at the same time as the federal election. The Saskatchewan election would have been in November 2015, but was delayed five months because of the October 2015 federal election. In addition, federal and provincial elections are conducted by different agencies, so there is not the connection between national and provincial parties that you might expect. In addition, because it is a parliamentary form of government, voters are likely making different considerations, more similar to an election for governor, which tend to be much more volatile. Massachusetts has elected Republican governors, while maintaining an overwhelming Democratic legislature.
The NDP has been a mainstay of Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s, winning 12 of 19 elections. If the Conservatives and Liberals were too competitive, it tended to result in vote splitting and keeping the NDP in power. The (Progressive) Conservatives only elected one MLA between 1934 and 1971 (about 0.2% of all MLA’s).
But the Conservative did have a resurgence in the 1980s, forming the government after the 1982 and 1986 elections, and squeezing the Liberals below 10% of the vote. But a comeback by the Liberals, and a scandal for the Conservatives brought the NDP back to power.
The Saskatchewan Party was formed by members of the Progressive Conservative Party and some members of the Liberal Party. Some former members of the the Progressive Conservative party who joined the Saskatchewan Party controlled a trust fund for the Progressive Conservative party. So long as the party ran 10 candidates, the party would remain recognized and the trust fund intact.
As the Saskatchewan Party gained in popularity, the Liberals and Progressive Convervatives declined in support and the Saskatchewan Party came to power in 2007. In 2011, neither of the old parties had full slates of candidates, and both received under 1% of the popular vote.
The Progressive Conservatives finally regained control of their trust fund after about a 20 year struggle, and in the 2016 election the Liberals ran a full slate of candidates. But that 3.6% was quite consistent across the province, so might represent about 250 of 5000 or so voters. The Progressive Conservatives ran much fewer candidates (18 of 61 seats) so actually did better on a per candidate basis – but they may have cherry-picked districts to run in. The Green Party also ran a full slate, and received about 130 votes per district.
The federal Conservative Party does not use the Progressive Conservative name, and is not a direct successor to the old federal party of that name. Individual members of the Saskatchewan Party may support Conservative and Liberal candidates. In the 2015 federal election, the Conservatives in Saskatchewan received around 1/2 the vote, while the Liberals and NDP each were around 1/4.
To run for MLS in Saskatchewan requires a petition with 4 signatures (the form provides space for collecting as many as 11 signatures) and a deposit of C$100 (roughly US$75), and a business manager, and auditor. If a candidate is not endorsed by a registered political party, they must file a declaration that they don’t want to be described as “Independent” if they don’t want to be described as “Independent”.
A registered party in Saskatchewan requires a petition with 2500 voters (around 1/2 of 1%), with at least 100 in each of 10 constituencies. A party seeking recognition may reserve a name for six months as it collects signatures. The name may not cause confusion with another party name, be the name of a party that merged or amalgamated with another, and may not include the word “independent”.
A party remains registered unless it: (1) requests to be deregistered; (2) fails to endorse at least two candidates; or (3) fails to comply with various financial reporting requirements. The endorsement requirement was reduced from 10 candidates to 2 candidates, allegedly by the NDP so that there would be more splitting of opposition support.
If a candidate or party receives 15% of the vote they are entitled to reimbursement for election expenses (IIUC it is about 50% of expenses, but can not exceed the amount of contributions.