Alberta Election 1948

Below is a list of all 57 seats up for election in the Alberta 1948 Provincial Election, and the names of the people who won those seats. Click on the symbol of the Legislature above a riding name to look at the individual candidates who were running in that riding, which will include links to their website and social media, if they're available.

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If you would like to see the candidates put forward by party rather than by riding, use the buttons below.

Multi-Member Ridings

In 1948, two constituencies (Edmonton and Calgary) each elected multiple MLAs to represent each city as a whole. These seats were determined through a system called "Single Transferable Vote" where voters could rank as many candidates as they wanted, and to win a seat, a candidate had to reach the quota for the constituency as determined by dividing the total number of valid votes by the number of available seats. In 1948, since both cities had five seats, a candidate needed a minimum of 20%. If, after the votes are tallied, nobody has reached quota, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to their second choices. If someone has reached quota, then any "extra" votes they've received that put them beyond what they need to reach the quota are also redistributed to their second choices. This process continues until either the necessary number of candidates has reached the quota, or the field of candidates has been narrowed down to the point where no more candidates can be eliminated while still filling every seat.

As a result, these constituencies have multiple winners in this election, and so are listed separately.

Calgary

Edmonton

Single-Member Ridings

In 1948, all constituencies outside Edmonton and Calgary used an "Instant-Runoff Voting" system to elect a single MLA. This meant that voters would rank their choices rather than voting for a single option, and that candidates needed the support of a majority of the valid votes, rather than simply the most votes, to win. If nobody had a majority after the votes were counted, the candidate in last place was eliminated, and their votes transferred to the voters' second choices. This process continued until a candidate received a majority, which is why some candidates from this era could eventually win a seat despite not initially having the most votes.