John E. Brownlee United Farmers John E. Brownlee United Farmers The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

[2] Calgary, Edmonton and Medicine Hat continued to be multi member districts.

Now they elected members using STV-PR, which at the time was called the Hare Proportional representation system.

Rural voters, like their city counterparts, cast preferential ballots and had the ability to rank the candidates.

This mixed crop of representatives was much better balanced than the single-party sweeps that Edmonton had previously elected through other electoral systems.

It took four rural seats that had been captured by Liberal candidates in 1921 (Beaver River, Leduc, Sedgewick and Whitford), and one that had been won by an Independent in 1921 (Claresholm).

And it lost one seat that it would have won if the contest had been held using First-past-the-post voting, (in Bow Valley).

Conservatives, being a less popular party, had been badly treated under FPTP and Block Voting in 1921 but now did better.

It won two seats each in Edmonton and Calgary, where Block Voting had been replaced by STV.

In Calgary, Conservative supporters found representation under STV where they had been shut out under Block Voting in 1921.

In Bow Valley the UFA candidate leading in the first count did not have as much support from Conservative supporters as the Liberal candidate so when the Conservative votes were transferred, a Liberal took the seat.

three-cornered contests would be a feature of most elections from here on in, as Canada had passed the point when only two parties dominated politics.

The only turn-overs where the candidate leading in the first count was not elected happened in Bow Valley and Pincher Creek.

[7] Upon the death of Joseph State, Clearwater was abolished in 1924, with parts of it distributed to Pembina, Lac Ste.

[8] An Act passed in 1926, after the election, made changes to the following ridings:[9] The net effect was to reduce the size of the Assembly from 61 to 60 MLAs.

Transfer of Barnes' votes put Weaver over quota, and he was declared elected on the 11th Count.

This left just Bowen, Prevey and Duggan still standing, with two open seats remaining.