2020 New Brunswick general election

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49 seats in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick 25 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	66.14% ( 1.20 pp) [citation needed]
First party Second party   Leader Blaine Higgs Kevin Vickers Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since October 22, 2016 April 24, 2019 Leader's seat Quispamsis Ran in Miramichi (lost) Last election 22 seats, 31.89% 21 seats, 37.80% Seats before 20 20 Seats won 27 17 Seat change 7 3 Popular vote 147,790 129,025 Percentage 39.34% 34.35% Swing 7.45% 3.45%   Third party Fourth party   Leader David Coon Kris Austin Party Green People's Alliance Leader since September 22, 2012 June 5, 2010 Leader's seat Fredericton South Fredericton-Grand Lake Last election 3 seats, 11.88% 3 seats, 12.58% Seats before 3 3 Seats won 3 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 57,252 34,526 Percentage 15.24% 9.19% Swing 3.36% 3.39%
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are determined by popular vote for each riding.
Premier before election Blaine Higgs Progressive Conservative Premier after election Blaine Higgs Progressive Conservative

The 2020 New Brunswick general election was held on September 14, 2020, to elect members of the 60th New Brunswick Legislature. The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick, led by Blaine Higgs, won a majority government.

The writs of election were issued by Lieutenant Governor Brenda Murphy on August 17, 2020, after a request was made by Premier Blaine Higgs to dissolve the legislature.

The election was scheduled to take place on October 17, 2022, as determined by the fixed-date provisions of the Legislative Assembly Act, which requires a general election to be held every four years on the third Monday in October.^[1] However, Premier Higgs called a snap election after negotiations failed with the other parties that would have avoided an election until the fixed date in 2022 or the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

At 8:55 p.m. ADT, CBC News declared a Progressive Conservative majority government.^[3]

Background

Aftermath of the 2018 election

The 2018 provincial election resulted in no party winning a majority of seats in the legislature for the first time since the 1920 provincial election. On election night, Blaine Higgs claimed victory for the Progressive Conservative Party, saying his team had received a mandate from New Brunswickers; however, Liberal Party leader and incumbent premier Brian Gallant stated his intention to remain in office with a minority government by securing support on a vote-by-vote basis.^[4] Over the following days, Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau met with both leaders and gave permission to Gallant to continue in office and attempt to seek the confidence of the Legislative Assembly;^[5] while Higgs was told that if Gallant was unable to secure the confidence of the Assembly, Higgs would be called on to form government.^[6]

After the election, both Kris Austin of the People's Alliance and David Coon of the Green Party were noncommittal in their support.^[7][8] Gallant pursued a partnership with the Green Party and ruled out any arrangement with the Progressive Conservative Party or People's Alliance because Gallant did not believe that they shared the Liberal Party’s “values”.^[9] Higgs initially ruled out any formal agreements with other parties, but later said that a four-year agreement would be ideal for stability.^[10] On September 28, 2018, Austin agreed to support a Progressive Conservative minority government on a "bill-by-bill basis" for eighteen months, though no formal agreement was made.^[11]

On November 2, 2018, the Progressive Conservatives introduced a motion of no confidence in the Legislative Assembly, resulting in a 25–23 vote against the Liberals. Subsequently, Gallant resigned as Premier and recommended to the Lieutenant Governor that Higgs be given the opportunity to form government.^[12] Higgs' minority government was sworn into office on November 9, 2018.^[13]

On November 15, 2018, Gallant announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party.^[14] He was succeeded by Kevin Vickers on April 24, 2019.^[15]

Speculation of an early election

The PC minority government's seat total dropped to 20 after the death of MLA Greg Thompson on September 10, 2019 and the resignation of Deputy Premier Robert Gauvin on February 14, 2020.^[16] Gauvin's resignation came after the PC government announced health reforms, including the nightly closure of six hospital emergency rooms across the province as a cost reduction measure.^[16] Despite the Progressive Conservatives quickly backtracking on their proposals, the Liberals and the Greens said that they would not support the government at the next confidence vote, while the People's Alliance specifically did not rule out a vote of non-confidence.^[16][17][18] The next confidence vote was scheduled for March 20, 2020 to approve the PC government's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year;^[19] however, by that time, the People's Alliance decided to continue supporting the government and Green MLAs were allowed to vote freely on the budget.^[19] Furthermore, after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, all parties decided to co-operate with each other—thus, avoiding a spring election.^[20]

By the summer, however, COVID-19 cases had stayed low for several weeks and Premier Blaine Higgs began to hint at the possibility of a fall election, arguing that stability was required for the next phase of the pandemic and economic recovery.^[21] The Progressive Conservatives carried out candidate riding nominations on August 8, 2020, continuing speculation of when an election might be called.^[22] On the following Monday, Higgs made an offer to the opposition parties to avoid an election until 2022 or the end of the pandemic;^[21] negotiations ultimately failed, however, and a snap election was called on August 17, 2020.^[2]

Summary of seat changes

Results

Summary of the 2020 Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick election

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					2018	Dissolution	Elected	Change
	Progressive Conservative	147,790	39.34	+7.45	22	20	27	+5
	Liberal	129,025	34.35	-3.45	21	20	17	-4
	Green	57,252	15.24	+3.36	3	3	3	±0
	People's Alliance	34,526	9.19	-3.39	3	3	2	-1
	New Democratic	6,220	1.66	-3.35	0	0	0	±0
	KISS	139	0.04	-0.06	0	0	0	±0
	Independents	685	0.18	-0.56	0	1	0	±0
Vacant					–	2	–	–
Total		375,637	100.00	–	49	49	49	0
Valid votes		375,637	99.66
Invalid/blank votes		1,266	0.34
Total votes		376,903	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		569,862	66.14
Source: GNB Archived 2020-09-16 at the Wayback Machine

Incumbent MLAs who were defeated