Brian Gallant won 42 ridings in Liberal leadership race

Liberal Leader Brian Gallant defeated his chief rival Michael Murphy in 42 of the province's 55 ridings as he attracted nearly 60 per cent of the vote in the party’s leadership contest on Saturday.

Gallant, a 30-year-old Moncton-area lawyer, handily defeated Murphy, a former health minister, and Nick Duivenvoorden, a former mayor of Belledune, in the party’s leadership race.

Gallant won support in ridings across the province, including some of the areas where Murphy thought he would be strong.

Gallant won the majority of votes in each of the Fredericton ridings, even though former Fredericton MLA Kelly Lamrock endorsed Murphy for leader.

The Liberals used a preferential ballot system where party members could rank their choice for leader.

Every riding was then given 100 points and the leadership candidate would receive a proportional share of those points based on how many votes they received.

So, a leadership candidate in a riding with a small number of members could walk away with a significant number of points. But in ridings where they signed up a large number of members, they could still only get a maximum of 100 points.

Gallant’s northern and western strength

The new Liberal leader also dominated in several western and northeastern New Brunswick ridings.

For instance, he won 90.6 per cent of the vote in Woodstock, 89.8 per cent in Edmundston-Sainte-Basile, 89.5 in Centre Peninsule-Saint Sauveur, 89.3 per cent in Caraquet and 82.1 per cent of the vote in Madawaska-les-Lacs.

The riding of Moncton East also offered an interesting showcase between Murphy and Gallant supporters.

Gallant ran unsuccessfully against former premier Bernard Lord in the riding during the 2006 election.  Liberal MLA Chris Collins, who now holds the seat, supported Murphy in the leadership race.

Moncton ridings backed Murphy

Murphy won the riding with 51.1 per cent of the points compared to Gallant’s 48 per cent.

The voting set up the possibility that a leadership candidate could have won more votes, but lost the race based on points.

In the end, Murphy, who was considered an early front-runner in the Liberal leadership race, ended up winning 13 ridings and 37.9 per cent of the vote.

Murphy had some of his largest wins in the Moncton area, where he served as a MLA from 2003 to 2010. As well, his caucus supporters in Bathurst and Charlotte County were able to deliver solid victories for Murphy.

Murphy also won the riding of Miramichi Centre with 64.4 per cent of the vote.

The former health minister also picked up several ridings in the Albert County region.

Duivenvoorden did not win a single riding, but he came second in two ridings, both in northern New Brunswick.

The dairy farmer received 39.1 per cent of the vote in Nigadoo-Chaleur, which includes Belledune, and 14.4 per cent of the vote in the neighbouring riding of Dalhousie-Restigouche East.