1989 Prince Edward Island general election

1989 Prince Edward Island general election

← 1986 May 29, 1989 (1989-05-29) 1993 →

All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
17 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
PC
Leader Joe Ghiz Mel Gass
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since October 24, 1981 June 11, 1988
Leader's seat 6th Queens Ran in 2nd Queens (lost)
Last election 21 seats, 50.3% 11 seats, 45.5%
Seats won 30 2
Seat change Increase9 Decrease9
Popular vote 85,982 50,731
Percentage 60.7% 35.8%
Swing Increase10.4pp Decrease9.7pp

Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.

Premier before election

Joe Ghiz
Liberal

Premier after election

Joe Ghiz
Liberal

The 1989 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 29, 1989.[1]

The campaign resulted in the re-election of the Liberal government of Premier Joe Ghiz. 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 won 2 seats despite taking 36 percent of the popular vote; they were due 12 seats. This was the lowest share of the vote that the Progressive Conservatives ever received, 35.8%. Only 5 times has the Opposition had 2 or fewer seats in the history of Prince Edward Island; this was one of them.

One of the two members from each constituency is styled a Councillor, and the other an Assemblyman. In electoral contests Councillor candidates run against Councillor candidates; Assemblyman candidates against Assemblyman candidates.[2]

Opinion polls

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Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level
Polling firm Last day
of survey
Source PEILA PCPEI NDPPEI ME Sample
Election 1989 May 29, 1989 60.7 35.8 3.5
Baseline Research May 10, 1989 [3] 68 26 6 6−7 200
Election 1986 April 21, 1986 50.3 45.5 4.0

Party standings

[edit]
30 2
Liberal PC
Party Party Leader Seats Popular Vote
1986 Elected Change # % Change
  Liberal Joe Ghiz 21 30 +9 85,982 60.7% +10.4%
  Progressive Conservative Mel Gass 11 2 -9 50,731 35.8% -9.7%
  New Democratic Jim Mayne 0 0 - 4,902 3.5% -0.5%
Popular vote
Liberal
60.72%
PC
35.82%
New Democratic
3.46%
Seats summary
Liberal
93.75%
PC
6.25%

Members elected

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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.[4]

Kings

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District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Kings     Ross "Johnny" Young Liberal     Albert Fogarty Progressive
Conservative
2nd Kings     Claude Matheson Liberal     Walter Bradley Liberal
3rd Kings     Peter Doucette Liberal     Roberta Hubley Liberal
4th Kings     Stanley Bruce Liberal     Gilbert R. Clements Liberal
5th Kings     Rose Marie MacDonald Liberal     Barry Hicken Liberal

Prince

[edit]
District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Prince     Robert Morrissey Liberal     Robert E. Campbell Liberal
2nd Prince     Keith Milligan Liberal     Allison Ellis Liberal
3rd Prince     Léonce Bernard Liberal     Edward Clark Liberal
4th Prince     Stavert Huestis Liberal    
Libbe Hubley Liberal
5th Prince     Walter McEwen Liberal     Nancy Guptill Liberal

Queens

[edit]
District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Queens     Marion Murphy Liberal     Leone Bagnall Progressive
Conservative
2nd Queens     Gordon MacInnis Liberal     Ron MacKinley Liberal
3rd Queens     Betty Jean Brown Liberal     Tom Dunphy Liberal
4th Queens     Alan Buchanan Liberal     Lynwood MacPherson Liberal
5th Queens     Wayne Cheverie Liberal     Tim Carroll Liberal
6th Queens     Joseph Atallah Ghiz Liberal     Paul Connolly Liberal

Sources

[edit]
  1. ^ "Provincial General Election Results, 1989" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  2. ^ "Canadian Parliamentary Review - Article". Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  3. ^ "Ghiz to win handily, Islander poll shows". The Windsor Star. May 17, 1989. p. E7.
  4. ^ Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2016.

Further reading

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