Political analysts say two out of the three ridings in Windsor-Essex are locked for the upcoming provincial election with the wild card falling in Windsor West.
Cheryl Collier predicts incumbents Taras Natyshak in Essex and Percy Hatfield in Windsor-Tecumseh will likely to be re-elected on Thursday, but believes Windsor’s remaining riding may be up in the air.
"The leaders don't have momentum, everything's kind of split, so the momentum isn't going to vault a weaker candidate ahead," Collier says.
And fellow analyst Lydia Miljan agrees.
"A number of polls throughout the campaign have indicated that Teresa Piruzza has a very strong risk of losing her seat to the NDP," Miljan says.
A forum research poll published by the Toronto Star earlier this month looked at swing ridings and found NDP candidate Lisa Gretzky ahead with 41 per cent support. Liberal candidate Teresa Piruzza came in second with 34 per cent – followed by PC candidate Henry Lau at 18 per cent.
Miljan says Piruzza has had big shoes to fill with departures of long time liberal cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan, Sandra Pupatello and Bruce Crozier.
"I think that we did get harmed by the mismanagement of the parkway, the fact that the girder issue took so long to resolve. It seemed like the government itself was being cavalier with our safety."
