Moe warns of vote splitting after Sask. United Party takes 23% of vote in Sask. Party stronghold

In the wake of this week's byelections, Premier Scott Moe is warning about vote splitting in future elections.  

"When you split the vote — and people should think about this as they go into polling locations this year and in any election — when you split the vote, you quite likely end up with something that you don't like," Moe said during a press conference on Friday. 

The warning came the day after Moe's Saskatchewan Party retained only a single seat in a trio of byelections — losing two seats it had held in Regina to the NDP — and saw its vote share drop to the lowest the party has ever received in the constituency of Lumsden-Morse. 

Preliminary results from Elections Saskatchewan show Saskatchewan Party candidate Blaine McLeod earned 54 per cent of the vote in the rural riding. In the two previous elections in the riding, which was created ahead of the 2016 provincial election, the Saskatchewan Party candidate won more than 70 per cent of the vote.

Jon Hromek, the candidate for the Saskatchewan United Party, earned 22.7 per cent of the vote on Thursday, beating out the NDP for second place. 

Hromek says it's a good result for a party that was only formally registered with Elections Saskatchewan late last year. 

He signed up to run just two days before the writ dropped and considers the result a successful campaign, even though he didn't win.

Hromek says people are ready for a change.

"The very fact that [Moe] is targeting and going after [vote splitting], it's a political tactic in order to try to remain and keep people in the status quo," he said. 

LISTEN | What do the results of the August byelections mean for Saskatchewan

On Friday, Moe acknowledged that something needs to change ahead of next year's general election. 

"Byelections are about voters sending a message and now it's up to our government to listen to and to act on that message that has been sent here this week," he said. 

Moe said the results in Regina Walsh Acres and Regina Coronation Park were a clear sign his government needs to do more to address affordability and cost of living in the province. 

The result in Lumsden-Morse drew a more targeted response, with Moe promising that Education Minister Dustin Duncan would soon introduce a plan to ensure that adolescent curriculum in provincial schools is "appropriate for the age of the student that is in that classroom." 

The premier was referring to an incident that occurred at Lumsden High School in June, where a Grade 9 student picked up graphic sex ed material left behind by Planned Parenthood after the organization had presented to their health class. 

Planned Parenthood Regina has said the material was not directly related to the presentation, but Duncan called for all schools in the province to suspend presentations with the organization. 

"A majority of voters in Lumsden-Morse still believe that it is the Saskatchewan Party that is the best option to address these concerns and we intend to do just that," Moe said. 

Hromek said the incident at Lumsden High School was one of the top issues he heard while campaigning. The other was health care, particularly the lengthy wait times residents are experiencing. 

CBC has made repeated requests to speak with McLeod about his campaign in Lumsden-Morse but has not received a reply. 

One expert said caution is warranted when trying to learn lessons from byelections and applying them to general elections. 

Daniel Westlake, an assistant professor of political studies at the University of Saskatchewan, said the results of the Lumsden-Morse byelection are interesting but fears over vote splitting may be premature. 

"For any of these rural ridings to be in play because of vote splitting, the Sask. United Party would have to be doing much, much better than they did in that byelection," he told CBC News. 

He said it's also important to keep in mind that although the NDP picked up two more seats in the legislature, they will only have 14 seats when the sitting resumes. 

The Saskatchewan United Party will have a single seat and the Saskatchewan Party will maintain its majority with 46 seats. 

"There's a couple of extra opposition MLAs that are going to be working to hold the government to account. A couple of extra New Democrats organizing in Regina, and that probably is a benefit to the NDP," Westlake said.