1979 Prince Edward Island general election

1979 Prince Edward Island general election

← 1978 April 23, 1979 (1979-04-23) 1982 →
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All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Lib Leader Angus MacLean Bennett Campbell Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since September 25, 1976 December 9, 1978 Leader's seat 4th Queens 3rd Kings Last election 15 seats, 48.1% 17 seats, 50.7% Seats won 21 11 Seat change 6 6 Popular vote 68,440 58,175 Percentage 53.3% 45.3% Swing 5.2pp 5.4pp
Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election Bennett Campbell Liberal Premier after election Angus MacLean Progressive Conservative

The 1979 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 23, 1979.^[1]

The election was held just one year after the 1978 election, which featured a 17–15 split in MLAs in the legislature. Following the resignation of former premier Alex Campbell from his seat, the legislature was in a 15–15 tie in voting members (the Liberal Speaker, Russell Perry, could not cast active votes in his role), the new Premier Bennett Campbell decided to call an election in an effort to regain his lost majority. The gambit failed, and instead the Progressive Conservatives led by Angus MacLean formed a strong majority government.

The campaign was the first to feature a female party leader running in PEI, with Doreen Sark serving as interim leader of the NDP.^[2] The campaign was also the only one in which the "Draft Beer Party of PEI" ran, with one candidate in 5th Queens.

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.

In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district. Before 1963, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district, but afterward they were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.^[3]

• Byers, R.B. (1981). Canadian annual review of politics and public affairs. 1979. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-7193-5.