Regina Mayor Michael Fougere re-elected in landslide vote

The message from Regina residents is clear — four more years, as Michael Fougere wins his second term as the city's mayor.

The polls closed for the 2016 municipal election at 8 p.m. CST and Fougere's victory was quickly called after. 

• It's election day in the Queen City
• Saskatchewan votes 2016: Polls close in Regina

He spoke to reporters and supporters after the victory, thanking voters for their support. 

"I'd like to thank the voters of Regina for their confidence in the vision and the purpose of my campaign and of all people running for city council," Fougere said. 

The mayor campaigned on promises for infrastructure spending, improving roads, encouraging economic growth and increasing community safety. 

In his speech following the closing of the polls, Fougere quickly brought the focus back to the work ahead. 

"We get back to work tomorrow. We begin the agenda for the new council coming up. The mandate is clear. The vision that I spoke of is clear."

Early results show landslide

With all 36 polling locations reporting unofficially Fougere had 70.2 per cent of the vote. 

He was far ahead of the four other opponents at the time, including Tony Fiacco, who is the brother of former mayor Pat Fiacco. Fiacco had the next highest tally with 11.5 per cent of the vote. 

Fiacco said he's "very disappointed" in the results. 

"I thought it'd be a lot closer," Fiacco said, adding that he plans to watch council closely to make sure they're keeping their campaign promises. 

"This council needs to be transparent and accountable and I don't believe they have been," he said.  

Former mayoral candidate Jim Elliott received 9.3 per cent of vote, and local businessman Wayne Ast had 6.8 per cent. 

Former Sask. Green Party MLA candidate Evangeline Godron was in last place with 2.2 per cent of votes.  

Despite the landslide victory, and his experience as a councillor for five terms before becoming mayor, Fougere said he never took a win for granted. 

"You never know what to expect when you go into a campaign — to think otherwise is really a bit of arrogance if you think that things are going to go your way all the time," he said. 

"You work as hard as you can, you bring as many people as you can with you as part of your team."

Low voter turnout

Early results are showing a low voter turnout.

Once all 36 polls had been tallied, just 36,656 people had voted. Regina has 179,645 eligible voters, meaning only 20.4 per cent of Reginans bothered to cast a ballot.

Fougere said the low turnout is a sign that people are generally satisfied with what's happening at city hall. 

"The need for change isn't there."