Naheed Nenshi elected new leader of the Alberta NDP

Alberta NDP members have overwhelmingly chosen former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi as their new leader.

After a commanding win with 86 per cent of members' votes, Nenshi told reporters in Calgary he is blown away by the support from across Alberta.

"The fact that they're putting in me — again, just for a second — their hopes and dreams for their community, for me, that's a really humbling thing," Nenshi said. "And it's something I'll try to live up to every day."

In his first speech as leader, Nenshi urged party members to redouble their effort to grow the Alberta NDP into an unstoppable machine that leads to an inevitable NDP win in the next provincial election, slated for October 2027.

The party's chief returning officer Amanda Freistadt announced the leadership vote results in Calgary Saturday afternoon, revealing Nenshi garnered 86 per cent of the 72,930 votes cast during the last month.

Voter turnout was 85.6 per cent to choose the leader to succeed Rachel Notley, who spent nearly a decade at the party's helm.

The leadership campaign began Feb. 5, and seven contenders ultimately registered.

After three withdrew, four candidates remained on the ballot: Edmonton MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, MLA and former Notley government health minister Sarah Hoffman, Calgary MLA and former justice minister Kathleen Ganley and Nenshi, who does not have a seat in the legislature.

Freistadt said Nenshi received 62,746 votes — or 86 per cent of ballots.

Ganley was a distant second with 8.1 per cent of ballots, followed by Hoffman with 4.2 per cent and Calahoo Stonehouse with 1.7 per cent.

Before encouraging members to broaden the appeal of the Alberta NDP to more voters, Nenshi turned his sights on Premier Danielle Smith.

Nenshi noted that Smith has said she is the most freedom-loving politician in Canada. But he said she has infringed on Albertans' rights by promising to limit medical treatments for gender-diverse youth, cast a chill on locally elected politicians by making it easier for the provincial government to overrule councillors, and passed a bill that lets the province vet any federal research grants to academia.

He said Albertans shouldn't accept such political interference.

"I think what she meant to say is she's the most power-loving politician in Canada," he said.