List of Prince Edward Island general elections
Encyclopedia
This article provides a summary of results for the general election
s to the Canadian
province of Prince Edward Island
's unicameral legislative body
, the Prince Edward Island House of Assembly. The number of seats has varied over time, from a high of thirty-two between the 1960s and 1990s, to the current low of twenty-seven.
The chart on the right shows the information graphically, with the most recent elections on the right. It shows that Prince Edward Island has effectively a two-party system
- the Liberal party
(red) and Conservative party
(blue). After the first two elections (when not all MLA
s declared a party allegiance), only one MLA has been elected who has not been a member of these two parties. The Liberal party have won eighteen out of twenty-nine of the elections in the 20th century.
Prior to 1996, PEI used 16 dual-member ridings; the 32 members have sat together since the 1893 abolition of the Legislative Council. The boundaries for these ridings were drawn in 1893; a single change was made in 1966 (when the riding of Charlottetown, also known as 5th Queens, was split into two parts). In 1996, a court determined that the number of electors varied too much between ridings, and was therefore unconstitutional. This resulted in a new set of (single-member) ridings being created.
This article only covers elections since Prince Edward Island became part of the Canadian Confederation
in 1873. Prior to that, Prince Edward Island was a British colony. The Prince Edward Island House of Assembly dates back to 1769.
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
s to the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
's unicameral legislative body
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
, the Prince Edward Island House of Assembly. The number of seats has varied over time, from a high of thirty-two between the 1960s and 1990s, to the current low of twenty-seven.
Two-party system
A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...
- the Liberal party
Prince Edward Island Liberal Party
The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party is a major political party in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The PEI Liberals are aligned with the federal Liberal Party of Canada. The party is led by Robert Ghiz, a former member of the staff of the Prime Minister's Office under Prime Minister...
(red) and Conservative party
Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party
The Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island is one of two major political parties on Prince Edward Island. It and its rival, the Liberals have alternated in power since responsible government was granted in 1851 and are the only two parties represented in the PEI Legislative...
(blue). After the first two elections (when not all MLA
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
s declared a party allegiance), only one MLA has been elected who has not been a member of these two parties. The Liberal party have won eighteen out of twenty-nine of the elections in the 20th century.
Prior to 1996, PEI used 16 dual-member ridings; the 32 members have sat together since the 1893 abolition of the Legislative Council. The boundaries for these ridings were drawn in 1893; a single change was made in 1966 (when the riding of Charlottetown, also known as 5th Queens, was split into two parts). In 1996, a court determined that the number of electors varied too much between ridings, and was therefore unconstitutional. This resulted in a new set of (single-member) ridings being created.
This article only covers elections since Prince Edward Island became part of the Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in 1873. Prior to that, Prince Edward Island was a British colony. The Prince Edward Island House of Assembly dates back to 1769.
Summary
The table below shows the total number of seats won by the major political parties at each election (if greater than zero). It also shows the percentage of the vote obtained by the major political parties at each election, if greater than 0.1%. The winning party's totals are shown in bold. To date, no party has formed a government that did not have the largest share of the vote. Full details on any election are linked via the year of the election at the start of the row.| Year | Conservative Prince Edward Island Progressive Conservative Party The Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island is one of two major political parties on Prince Edward Island. It and its rival, the Liberals have alternated in power since responsible government was granted in 1851 and are the only two parties represented in the PEI Legislative... | Liberal Prince Edward Island Liberal Party The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party is a major political party in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The PEI Liberals are aligned with the federal Liberal Party of Canada. The party is led by Robert Ghiz, a former member of the staff of the Prime Minister's Office under Prime Minister... | NDP Prince Edward Island New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and a branch of the federal New Democratic Party .-CCF:... | Other | Total seats | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vote (%) | Seats | Vote (%) | Seats | Vote (%) | Seats | Vote (%) | Seats | Seat-winning party | |||
| 2011 | 40.2 | 5 | 51.4 | 22 | 3.2 | | 5.3 | | | 27 | |
| 2007 Prince Edward Island general election, 2007 The 63rd Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 28, 2007. It elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Prince Edward Island, Canada... | 41.4 | 4 | 52.9 | 23 | 2.0 | | 3.8 | | | 27 | |
| 2003 Prince Edward Island general election, 2003 thumb|Map of PEI's ridings showing winning parties and their popular vote.The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election in September 2003 to elect the 27 members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island... | | 54.0 | 23 | 42.9 | 4 | 3.1 | | | | | 27 |
| 2000 Prince Edward Island general election, 2000 The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election on April 17, 2000 to elect the 27 members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island.... | | 57.9 | 26 | 33.7 | 1 | 8.4 | | | | | 27 |
| 1996 Prince Edward Island general election, 1996 thumb|Map of PEI's ridings showing winning parties and their popular vote.The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election on November 18, 1996 to elect the 27 members of the Island legislature... | | 47.4 | 18 | 44.8 | 8 | 7.8 | 1 | | | | 27 |
| 1993 Prince Edward Island general election, 1993 The 1993 Prince Edward Island General Election was the last to use the dual-member ridings. The election was won by the PEI Liberal party, led by new Premier Catherine Callbeck. The PC party took only a single seat, one of three times in the province's history that the Official Opposition consisted... | | 39.5 | 1 | 55.1 | 31 | 5.4 | | | | | 32 |
| 1989 Prince Edward Island general election, 1989 The 1989 Prince Edward Island general election saw a huge victory for Premier Joe Ghiz's Liberal Party. In this election, the Liberals won 60.7% of the popular vote, the highest percentage that a winning party has taken on record in Prince Edward Island. The Progressive Conservatives were able to... | 35.8 | 2 | 60.7 | 30 | 3.5 | | | | | 32 | |
| 1986 Prince Edward Island general election, 1986 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1986 saw a change in government from the Progressive Conservatives to the Liberals. It led to the Liberal Leader Joseph A. Ghiz becoming premier. Ghiz, who was Lebanese by birth, was one of the first non-British or French premiers in the history of Canada.... | | 45.6 | 11 | 50.4 | 21 | 4.0 | | | | | 32 |
| 1982 Prince Edward Island general election, 1982 The Prince Edward Island General Election, 1982 saw the re-election of the Progressive Conservative government , with a majority of seats and votes cast. It also marked a low point for the Island New Democrats, who captured 0.7% of the vote, the lowest since they started running candidates in 1974.... | | 53.6 | 21 | 45.7 | 11 | 0.7 | | | | | 32 |
| 1979 Prince Edward Island general election, 1979 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1979 saw the election of a new Progressive Conservative government, which was elected with a majority both of seats and votes. The PC were led by Angus MacLean. This also marks the only appearance of the Draft Beer Party. This was the only party to contest... | | 53.2 | 21 | 45.3 | 11 | 1.3 | | 0.2 | | | 32 |
| 1978 Prince Edward Island general election, 1978 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1978 was one of the closest on record on PEI. The Liberal Party won its fourth consecutive election by a narrow majority.... | 48.2 | 15 | 50.7 | 17 | 1.1 | | | | | 32 | |
| 1974 Prince Edward Island general election, 1974 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1974 was the first election that the NDP contested as a provincial party on PEI. Not since the CCF in 1951 had there been a third party competing for votes on the island... | | 40.2 | 6 | 53.9 | 26 | 5.9 | | | | | 32 |
| 1970 Prince Edward Island general election, 1970 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1970 is notable if only because it is one of the more uneventful elections in the history of a province coloured with unique electoral events... | 41.7 | 5 | 58.3 | 27 | | | | | | 32 | |
| 1966 Prince Edward Island general election, 1966 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1966 was held on May 30, 1966.The election in the riding of 1st Kings was delayed until July 11, 1966 due to the death of Liberal Assemblyman and candidate William Acorn... | | 49.5 | 15 | 50.5 | 17 | | | | | | 32 |
| 1962 Prince Edward Island general election, 1962 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1962 saw the incument Progressive Conservative government re-elected, with vote numbers nearly identical to the previous election but this resulted in three additional opposition Liberals being elected. This was also the last election in which... | | 50.6 | 19 | 49.4 | 11 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1959 Prince Edward Island general election, 1959 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1959 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 50.9 | 22 | 49.1 | 8 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1955 Prince Edward Island general election, 1955 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1955 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island... | 45.0 | 3 | 55.0 | 27 | | | | | | 30 | |
| 1951 Prince Edward Island general election, 1951 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1951 was held on April 26, 1951 in the Canadian province of Prince Edward IslandHilda Ramsay, the first woman ever to stand for election to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, was a CCF candidate in 3rd Prince in this election.... | | 46.7 | 6 | 51.6 | 24 | 1.7 | | | | | 30 |
| 1947 Prince Edward Island general election, 1947 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1947, held on December 11, saw the best showing by the CCF in its history running on PEI. The CCF even finished in second place in 4th prince, due to an extremely controversial Conservative candidate. That Candidate would take less than 100 votes, and was,... | 45.8 | 6 | 49.8 | 24 | 4.3 | | 0.1 | | | 30 | |
| 1943 Prince Edward Island general election, 1943 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1943 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 46.1 | 10 | 51.3 | 20 | 2.1 | | 0.5 | | | 30 |
| 1939 Prince Edward Island general election, 1939 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1939 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island... | 47.0 | 4 | 53.0 | 26 | | | | | 30 | ||
| 1935 Prince Edward Island general election, 1935 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1935 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island. The Liberal party swept the board by winning every seat in every constituency. Liberal Leader Walter Maxfield Lea became Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time... | | 42.0 | | 58.0 | 30 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1931 Prince Edward Island general election, 1931 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1931 was held on August 6, 1931 in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island... | | 51.7 | 18 | 48.3 | 12 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1927 Prince Edward Island general election, 1927 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1927 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 46.9 | 6 | 53.1 | 24 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1923 Prince Edward Island general election, 1923 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1923 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 51.5 | 25 | 43.8 | 5 | | | 4.7 | | | 30 |
| 1919 Prince Edward Island general election, 1919 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1919 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.* John Alexander Dewar, a Conservative who had been excluded from Caucus was elected in this election, though after the election Dewar voted with the Liberal Government, and by today's... | | 46.1 | 6 | 53.9 | 24 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1915 Prince Edward Island general election, 1915 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1915 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 50.1 | 17 | 49.9 | 13 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1912 Prince Edward Island general election, 1912 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1912 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | 60.3 | 28 | 39.7 | 2 | | | | | 30 | |
| 1908 Prince Edward Island general election, 1908 ----The Prince Edward Island general election, 1908 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | 48.4 | 13 | 51.6 | 17 | | | | | | 30 | |
| 1904 Prince Edward Island general election, 1904 The 1904 Prince Edward Island general election was held on December 7, 1904. It elected members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island... | | 45.9 | 8 | 54.1 | 22 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1900 | 46.5 | 9 | 53.5 | 21 | | | | | | 30 | |
| 1897 Prince Edward Island general election, 1897 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1897 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island.... | | | 11 | | 19 | | | | | 30 | |
| 1893 Prince Edward Island general election, 1893 The Prince Edward Island general election, 1893 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island. It was the first election using a new electoral map. Between 1893 and the 1993 PEI election the map only changed once, when 5th queens, at this time known as Charlottetown Royalty, was split... | | | 7 | | 23 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1890 Prince Edward Island general election, 1890 The 1890 Prince Edward Island election was held on 10 August 1890 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada.... | | | 15 | | 15 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1886 Prince Edward Island general election, 1886 The 1886 Prince Edward Island election was held on 30 June 1886 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was won by the Conservative party.... | | | 18 | | 12 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1883 Prince Edward Island general election, 1883 The 1883 Prince Edward Island election was held on 5 August 1883 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was won by the Conservative party.... | | | 21 | | 9 | | | | | 30 | |
| 1879 Prince Edward Island general election, 1879 The 1879 Prince Edward Island election was held on 4 February 1879 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was won by the Conservative party.... | | | 24 | | 6 | | | | | | 30 |
| 1876 Prince Edward Island general election, 1876 The 1876 Prince Edward Island election was held on 10 October 1876 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was won by the Conservative party.... | | | 15 | 7 | | | | 8 | Non-partisan | 30 | |
| 1873 Prince Edward Island general election, 1873 The 1873 Prince Edward Island election was held on 1 April 1873 to elect members of the House of Assembly of the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was won by the Conservative party.... | | | 15 | 10 | | | | 5 | Non-partisan | 30 | |
Historical voter turnouts
| Year | Turnout (%) |
|---|---|
| 1966 | 85.65 |
| 1970 | 87.32 |
| 1974 | 82.1 |
| 1978 | 86.3 |
| 1979 | 83.8 |
| 1982 | 78.2 |
| 1986 | 87.6 |
| 1989 | 80.8 |
| 1993 | 80.7 |
| 1996 | 85.48 |
| 2000 | 84.86 |
| 2003 | 83.27 |
| 2007 | 83.84 |
See also
- Timeline of Canadian electionsTimeline of Canadian electionsThis article provides a timeline of elections in Canada, including all the provincial, territorial and federal elections. The information starts from when each province was formed or entered the Confederation, and continues through to the present day. The background colour indicates which party won...
- List of political parties in Prince Edward Island