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Albertans might be ready to move on from a polarizing election, but a handful of candidates in contentious ridings will have to hold off celebrations until advance votes are counted later this week.

Premier-designate Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party won a commanding majority in Tuesday’s provincial vote, projected to take victory in 63 ridings compared with the New Democratic Party’s 24.

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The 2019 provincial election marked the first time Elections Alberta allowed voters to cast their ballots at any polling station during advance voting, regardless of the riding they live in.

Of the approximately 696,000 advance votes cast between April 9 and 13, Elections Alberta said 223,000 were under the new “vote anywhere” option.

And with some advance votes yet to be counted, the difference between an NDP or UCP win in three Calgary ridings could come down to just a few votes.

Unofficial results from Elections Alberta show Calgary’s closest contest is in Calgary-Falconridge, where just 1.2 per cent of votes separate two candidates. The riding is new for this election, created in 2017 when the Elections Boundaries Commission recommended reorganizing the districts in northeast Calgary, abolishing Calgary-Greenway and shifting the other ridings eastward.