Polls close in Brandon-Souris, Provencher byelections

The polls have closed in the Manitoba ridings of Brandon-Souris and Provencher, where voters are choosing their next members of Parliament in highly anticipated byelection races.

• Live coverage of Manitoba byelection results
• 4 storylines to watch in today's byelections

Eligible voters in both ridings cast their ballots at polling stations between 8:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. CT Monday.

The byelection has become one to watch in Brandon-Souris, where a tight race is expected between Conservative Larry Maguire and Liberal Rolf Dinsdale.

​Maguire, a former MLA, has since been criticized for not attending several candidates' debates and for launching a series of attack ads against the Liberals.

Dinsdale has been accused of being a parachute candidate from Toronto, even though his father was the Progressive Conservative MP in the riding for more than three decades.

Voters who cast ballots in Brandon told the CBC's Jill Coubrough they're motivated by how tight the race is there, with many feeling their votes could swing the results.

Political observers in the area believe the race will be so close, the votes may need to be counted more than once on Monday night.

Brandon-Souris and Provencher were most recently represented by Conservatives Merv Tweed and Vic Toews, respectively. Both left office this past summer.

In both ridings, the opposition NDP and Liberals are hoping to capitalize on voters' anger over the Senate expenses scandal.

Provencher has seen a quieter byelection campaign compared to Brandon-Souris, and it's expected to stay with the Conservatives by night's end.

However, some voters have expressed frustration with Conservative front-runner Ted Falk, who did not participate in two of the all-candidate debates that went ahead.

A third debate had to be cancelled because it did not fit in with his schedule.

While his opponents have accused Falk of hiding, he said he was busy getting the message out to voters.

While some voters told CBC News they're bothered and annoyed by Falk's lack of public appearances, some said they would still vote Conservative, while others said they weren't sure.

Elections Canada says 2,313 people in Provencher voted in byelection advance polls. Leading up to the last general election, 3,218 voters took part in advance polls there.

A total of 2,422 voters took part in advance polls in Brandon-Souris. That's only several hundred votes less than the 2,754 voters from the riding who cast ballots in advance polls in the last federal election.