Alberta Election 2015: NDP sweeps Edmonton

Alberta's NDP party has swept the provincial capital, helping it secure a commanding majority government.

The party was elected or is leading in 54of Alberta's 87 ridings and had wonall 19 seats in Edmonton.

The party has also made gains in rural northern Alberta, leading in a dozenridings around Edmonton.

Polling resultshave not been kind to the ruling Progressive Conservative government after Premier Jim Prentice called an early election last month. Since then, polls consistently showedstrong support for the NDP under leader Rachel Notley.

Both of the party leaders fighting for seats in northern Alberta, Notley in Edmonton-Strathcona and WildroseLeader Brian Jean in Fort McMurray-Conklin, secured their seats. With his party well ahead of the third-place PCs, Jean's party will be the province's Official Opposition.

The NDP surge came largely at the expense of the PCs, which have controlled the government for more than fourdecades. Among the PC casualties were many former cabinet ministers, including Health Minister Stephen Mandel and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Both werebeaten handily by their NDP opponents.

Also defeated was Edmonton-Centre candidate Laurie Blakeman, the province's longest-serving opposition MLA, who lost out to NDP candidate David Shepherd. While a Liberal candidate, Blakeman was officially endorsed by the Alberta Party and the province's Green Party.

• For individual riding results visitAlberta Votes 2015 Interactive Dashboard
• Alberta Election 2015 Live Chat

Early on, the election campaigngenerated considerable excitement, with more than 235,000 people casting advance ballots -- more than in any other election in the province, according to Elections Alberta.