EDMONTON — Albertans voted by a wide margin to stay in Canada in the province's first referendum on separation, with about 76 percent of counted ballots backing the federation, according to preliminary results from Elections Alberta released early on Tuesday.

The result is a clear win for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who grew up in Edmonton and campaigned for unity, and it closes for now a secession push in Canada's oil heartland that had drawn open interest from allies of US President Donald Trump. Separatist leaders said they would not give up.

With more than 1.5 million votes counted, close to 24 percent backed starting a process that could lead to separation, the Associated Press reported from the unofficial count. Al Jazeera later put the tally at about 1.8 million votes, with the split unchanged. By Tuesday evening, with 90 percent of voting locations reporting, The Globe and Mail put the stay side at about 75 percent, or more than 1.46 million votes, against more than 484,000 for beginning the process.

The vote held on Monday was nonbinding and was not a direct ballot on independence. A majority for leaving would have started the legal process toward a second, binding referendum on separation.

"Albertans made a clear choice," Carney said. He said Canadians could now move forward and speed up efforts to diversify trade, build major infrastructure and make the country a global energy power with Alberta at its centre.

"They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other," the prime minister added in a post on X.

Premier Danielle Smith, a conservative who said she voted to remain, welcomed the early count. "Albertans have voted for a stronger Alberta in a united Canada," she wrote. Smith had promised that a simple majority of 50 percent plus one would decide the question and that there would be no follow-up separation referendum for the rest of her mandate, Global News reported.

Late openings forced more than 100 polling stations to keep voting open longer on Monday, delaying the first numbers by more than three hours. By law every ballot must be counted by hand within 48 hours, and Elections Alberta hired more than 48,000 workers to do it.

The separation question was the tenth of 10 on the ballot and was counted first. The other nine, which Smith backed and Carney opposed, cover immigration, including possible fees for some newcomers seeking health care and education, and constitutional matters such as talks with other provinces on taking powers from Ottawa and abolishing the Senate. Their results are expected by Wednesday.

Interest in the vote was high. Nearly 1.36 million people cast advance or special ballots before referendum day, more than voted in total in the 2023 provincial election, according to The Globe and Mail. The province has about 3.15 million eligible voters.

On the other side, Jeff Rath of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a leading separatist group, said the campaign would go on. "We're not going anywhere," he said. Rath had said he would be thrilled if 30 percent voted to begin separation.

Keith Wilson, another separatist leader, said the result still carried a message. It was fair to say "at least a quarter of Albertans feel that Alberta needs to be treated better," he said.

Rath wants Smith removed as leader of the United Conservative Party and has pushed for a special party meeting on her leadership. He has said the party could splinter, possibly giving rise to a new pro-independence party. Some separatists are rallying members to oust Smith at the party's annual gathering next month, the Globe reported.

Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier who led the Forever Canadian campaign against separation, celebrated the outcome. "We are a solid country that's united from coast to coast to coast," he said.

Naheed Nenshi, leader of the opposition New Democrats, posted: "Thank you! We saved Canada. Now, we save Alberta."

Smith, who opposes independence, added the separation question in May after disagreeing with a Court of King's Bench ruling that had quashed a separatist petition. She called the vote under pressure from separatists inside her own party, saying a federalist win would settle the issue.

Alberta holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves, and anger over federal management of the industry has fuelled the movement. Smith has blamed former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, accusing him of trying to curb oil production for the sake of his climate agenda. Carney, who took office last year, has worked to mend ties with the province and joined Smith in backing a new pipeline to ship more Alberta bitumen overseas.

The vote came during a trade war with Washington and Trump's talk of absorbing Canada as a 51st state, and the AP said both had boosted Carney in a province that has rarely warmed to Liberal leaders. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called Alberta Washington's "natural partner," and Elon Musk posted on X that the province "should separate," Al Jazeera reported.

At a rally in Edmonton on Friday, Carney urged a decisive result. "Vote like Canada's future depends on it, because it does," he said.

Polls since January had consistently shown about 70 percent of Albertans wanted to stay in Canada. The New Democrats are now running close to the governing party in recent polling, with the next provincial election due in about a year.