NDP Leader Alison Coffin celebrates after winning her seat in St. John's East-Quidi Vidi. (Terry Roberts/CBC)

The Newfoundland and Labrador NDP started the election campaign with just 14 candidates, with their only two sitting MHAs deciding not to run again, and with a leader who had taken the reins less than two months before.

They finished it Thursday night with smiles, laughter and whoops of joy.

The NDP has won three seats — pending a recount of a tight race in Labrador West —that could look extremely attractive to a minority Liberal government hoping to stay in power, not to mention to a Progressive Conservative Opposition hoping to take them down.

"This is a new era," NDP Leader Alison Coffin told cheering supporters at the NDP's election night headquarters.

She then thanked the voters who made her the new St. John's East-Quidi Vidi MHA-elect, replacing former leader Lorraine Michael.

"They have decided that they want to have a voice for equality and justice in the House of Assembly and have placed their faith firmly in me," she said.

"I am truly thankful, and I pledge to fight every single day to reward your faith in me and the New Democrats of Newfoundland and Labrador."

Coffin beat Liberal George Murphy by 580 votes, 2,613 to 2,033, with the PCs' David Porter trailing at 1,410.

Wins in St. John's Centre and Lab West

In St. John's Centre, Jim Dinn easily hung on to former leader Gerry Rogers's seat, his 2,118 votes amounting to 47.1 per cent of the turnout, leaving the PC Jonathan Galgay and Liberal Seamus O'Keefe a distant second and third, respectively.

New NDP MHA-elect Jim Dinn has hung onto outgoing leader Gerry Rogers' seat. (CBC)

In his victory speech, Dinn said politics had not previously been an ambition for him.

"And yet here I am," he said. "But I always believed in giving back to the community to make the lives of the people who live there better."

Labrador West's NDP candidate, Jordan Brown, eked out just a five-vote victory over Liberal incumbent Graham Letto. With less than a 10-vote win, an automatic recount will now be ordered.

Another former leader, Earle McCurdy, was elated by the party's gain, especially given the circumstances.

'Turning point'

"I think tonight is a bit of a turning point for our party, because we had no incumbents running," he said. "We had a leader who only had a couple of months to get ready for the election, it was dropped on us with extremely short notice, and to pull out three seats in that short of time is, I think, a turning point, and a real good night for our party."

The Liberals' loss of their majority shows voters' "widespread dissatisfaction" with the performance of the Dwight Ball government, he said.

"And on the other hand, I don't think people were impressed with Ches Crosbie and his message," he said. "'If you think things are bad now, wait till we get in,' is more of less the message I heard from him."

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