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The new leader of the Alberta Party, former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel, has his sight set firmly on the premier’s chair come 2019.

“I wouldn’t do this to be second place; this is about winning,” he said Tuesday night.

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Mandel emerged from the party’s two-month leadership campaign with 66 per cent of the vote.

The 72-year-old defeated Calgary lawyer Kara Levis (18 per cent) and Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser (16 per cent) to take the top job. Just over 70 per cent of the party’s 6,443 eligible members cast a vote.

The former Progressive Conservative health minister is confident the party can build its membership base to 50,000 over the next year, and is eyeing cultural groups as a potential opportunity.

But he will have to work fast.

The party he leads will be pitted against the governing NDP and 100,000-member United Conservative Party.

To have more than a snowball’s hope in hell, the third-place party will need more members, more money and more name recognition.