! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=5 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !2014 !Dissol. !2018 !± !# !% ! ± (pp) !% whererunning |align=left|Blaine Higgs |49 |21 |21 |22 |1 |121,300 |31.89% |2.75 |31.89% |align=left|Brian Gallant |49 |27 |24 |21 |3 |143,791 |37.80% |4.92 |37.80% |align=left|Kris Austin |30 |– |– |3 |3 |47,860 |12.58% |10.44 |20.60% |align=left|David Coon |47 |1 |1 |3 |2 |45,186 |11.88% |5.27 |12.41% |align=left|Jennifer McKenzie |49 |– |– |– |– |19,039 |5.01% |7.97 |5.01% |align=left|KISS NB |align=left|Gerald Bourque |9 |– |– |– |– |366 |0.10% | |0.49% | style="text-align:left;" colspan="2"|Independent |8 |– |1 |– |1 |2,821 |0.74% |0.15 |4.46% | style="text-align:left;" colspan="4"|Vacant |2 | colspan="5"| |-style="background:#E9E9E9;" |-style="background:#E9E9E9;" |colspan="8" align="left"|Ballots rejected |1,412 |colspan="2"| |- style="background:#E9E9E9;" | style="text-align:left;" colspan="3"|Total |241 |49 |49 |49 |– |381,775 |100.00% | |-style="background:#E9E9E9;" |colspan="8" align="left"|Eligible voters and turnout |568,671 |67.13% |2.48 |} Results by region Detailed analysis Aftermath On election night, Higgs claimed victory, saying his team had received a mandate; however, Gallant did not resign, instead stating his intent to remain in office by securing support on a vote-by-vote basis. The following day, Gallant met with Lieutenant Governor Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau and received permission to continue in office and attempt to seek confidence of the legislature. On September 27, Higgs met with Roy-Vienneau, and was told that if Gallant was unable to secure the confidence of the House, he would be called on to form government; shortly afterwards, Higgs called on Gallant to either resign or immediately recall the legislature. In the immediate aftermath of the election, both Kris Austin of the People's Alliance and David Coon of the Green Party were noncommittal in their support: Austin pledged to work with any party willing to work with him, but said the party won't sacrifice its "values and ideals" to do so; while Coon said his caucus would take time to figure out how they would align themselves, but would not be able to work with anyone uncommitted to rights for linguistic minorities or combatting climate change. Gallant opted to pursue a partnership with the Green Party, ruling out any arrangement with the PCs or PA because they don't share Liberal "values". Higgs initially ruled out any formal agreements with other parties, but later said that a four-year agreement like in British Columbia would be ideal for stability. Austin agreed to support to a