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List of post-confederation Prince Edward Island general elections

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Number of seats won by major parties at each election (except 2019 and 2023 general elections)
  •   Conservative
  •   Liberal
  •   NDP
  •   Non-partisan

General elections to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island's unicameral legislative body, the Prince Edward Island House of Assembly. Prince Edward Island became part of the Canadian Confederation in 1873. Prior to that, Prince Edward Island was a British colony; the House of Assembly dates to 1769.

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.

Prince Edward Island was effectively a two-party system - the Liberal party (red) and Conservative party (blue) until the 2019 election. After the first two elections (when not all MLAs declared a party allegiance), until 2015, only one MLA had been elected who has not been a member of these two parties. The Green Party won their first seat in 2015, their second in a 2017 byelection, and won a total of 8 seats in 2019, to form the first Green Official Opposition.

The Liberal party 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.

Summary

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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.

Election date Win. Total
seats 		Conservative[A] Liberal NDP[B] Green Other
Seats Vote
(%) 		Seats Vote
(%) 		Seats Vote
(%) 		Seats Vote
(%) 		Seats Vote
(%) 		Seat-winning party
1873 April 1, 1873 CON 30 15 [C] 10 [C] 5 Non-partisan
1876 August 10, 1876 CON 30 15 [C] 7 [C] 8 Non-partisan
1879 April 2, 1879 CON 30 24 [C] 6 [C]
1882 May 8, 1882 CON 30 21 [C] 9 [C]
1886 June 30, 1886 CON 30 18 [C] 12 [C]
1890 January 30, 1890 CON 30 15[D] [C] 15[D] [C]
1893 December 13, 1893 LIB 30 7 [C] 23 [C]
1897 July 28, 1897 LIB 30 11 [C] 19 [C]
1900 December 12, 1900 LIB 30 9 46.5 21 53.5
1904 December 7, 1904 LIB 30 8 45.9 22 54.1
1908 November 18, 1908 LIB 30 13 48.4 17 51.6
1912 January 3, 1912 CON 30 28 60.3 2 39.7
1915 September 16, 1915 CON 30 17 50.1 13 49.9
1919 July 24, 1919 LIB 30 6 46.1 24 53.9
1923 July 26, 1923 CON 30 25 51.5 5 43.8 4.7[E]
1927 June 25, 1927 LIB 30 6 46.9 24 53.1
1931 August 6, 1931 CON 30 18 51.7 12 48.3
1935 July 23, 1935 LIB 30 – 42.0 30 58.0
1939 May 18, 1939 LIB 30 4 47.0 26 53.0
1943 September 15, 1943 LIB 30 10 46.1 20 51.3 2.1 0.5
1947 December 11, 1947 LIB 30 6 45.8 24 49.8 4.3 0.1
1951 April 26, 1951 LIB 30 6 46.7 24 51.6 1.7
1955 May 25, 1955 LIB 30 3 45.0 27 55.0
1959 September 1, 1959 PC 30 22 50.9 8 49.1
1962 December 10, 1962 PC 30 19 50.6 11 49.4
1966 May 30, 1966 LIB 32 15 49.5 17 50.5
1970 May 11, 1970 LIB 32 5 41.7 27 58.3
1974 April 29, 1974 LIB 32 6 40.2 26 53.9 5.9
1978 April 24, 1978 LIB 32 15 48.2 17 50.7 1.1
1979 April 23, 1979 PC 32 21 53.2 11 45.3 1.3 0.2
1982 September 27, 1982 PC 32 21 53.6 11 45.7 0.7
1986 April 21, 1986 LIB 32 11 45.6 21 50.4 4.0
1989 May 29, 1989 LIB 32 2 35.8 30 60.7 3.5
1993 March 29, 1993 LIB 32 1 39.5 31 55.1 5.4
1996 November 18, 1996 PC 27 18 47.4 8 44.8 1 7.8
2000 April 17, 2000 PC 27 26 57.9 1 33.7 8.4
2003 September 29, 2003 PC 27 23 54.0 4 42.9 3.1
2007 May 28, 2007 LIB 27 4 41.4 23 52.9   2.0   3.0   0.7  
2011 October 3, 2011 LIB 27 5 40.2 22 51.4   3.2   4.4   0.9  
2015 May 4, 2015 LIB 27 8 37.4 18 40.8   11.0 1 10.8      
2019 April 23, 2019 PC 27 12 36.5 6 29.5   2.9 8 30.6      
2023 April 3, 2023 PC 27 22 55.92 3 17.21 4.49 2 21.57      

Notes

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A Includes results for Progressive Conservatives from 1942 onwards.
B Includes results for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1943 to 1951.
C Vote share not known for the elections in the 19th century.
D Tie between Conservatives and Liberals, resulting in the incumbent Conservatives remaining in power until losing a motion of confidence in 1891 after a series of by-election losses and the Liberals taking power for the remainder of the term.
E Includes 3.4% for the Progressive Party / United Farmers.

Historical voter turnouts

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Year Turnout (%)[1]
1966 85.65
1970 87.32
1974 82.10
1978 86.30
1979 83.80
1982 78.20
1986 87.60
1989 80.80
1993 80.70
1996 85.48
2000 84.86
2003 83.27
2007 83.84
2011 76.53
2015 82.1[2]
2019 76.28
2023 68.50

References

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  1. ^ "STATISTICS ON GENERAL ELECTIONS FROM 1966 TO 2011" (pdf). Elections Prince Edward Island. November 8, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
  2. ^ "Report of the Chief Electoral Officer for the Provincial General Election May 4, 2015" (PDF). Elections PEI. 2015-10-07.

Bibliography

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See also

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