Results for United Conservative Party leadership vote have been delayed

Danielle Smith announced as UCP leader, premier-designate It took six ballots Thursday night, but Danielle Smith was chosen by the UCP as the next party leader, and premier-designate.

Despite vowing to declare a new leader by 7 p.m. Thursday, the UCP now says results will be delayed.

"Voting at in-person locations this morning was steady but manageable," a statement from the party reads.

"The mail-in count is moving along well but there are over 80,000 (ballots)."

The statement goes on to say more than 250 volunteers are carefully counting ballots now.

"We believe it is more important to ensure accuracy than rush the program," it reads.

Originally, the party planned to announce the first results of its preferential ballot shortly after 6 p.m.

If no winner received more than half the votes at that point, the next results, incorporating voters' second choices for leader, were to be announced less than 10 minutes later.

The party is now delaying its entire program by two hours, currently planning to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Based on the party's original time frame, that means the first ballot results will likely be announced around 8 p.m.