List of post-confederation Nova Scotia general elections

Number of seats won by major parties at each election
Conservative Liberal NDP Other
Electoral results by parties and independent MLAs (as a percentage of total House of Assembly seats) from 1933 to 2009.

This article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's unicameral legislative body, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The number of seats has varied over time, from a low of thirty during the 1930s and early 1940s, to the current high of fifty-two. This article only covers elections since Nova Scotia became part of the newly formed Canadian Confederation in 1867. Prior to that, Nova Scotia was a British colony. The Nova Scotia House of Assembly dates back to 1758, and Nova Scotia became the first British colony to be granted responsible government from London in 1848.

The chart on the upper right provides a graphical summary of the results, with the most recent elections towards the right. It shows how the Liberal party (red) dominated the province's early political history, winning nineteen of the first twenty-two elections from 1867 to 1953; and that since 1953, the Conservatives (blue) have been the most successful party, winning eleven of the fifteen elections since then. The New Democratic Party (orange), after winning Official Opposition status in four consecutive elections, finally achieved government for the first time in the 2009 election.

Summary of results

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The table below shows the total number of seats won by the major political parties at each election. 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 number of the election at the start of the row.

Election Total
seats 		Conservative[A] Liberal NDP[B] Other
Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Seat-winning party Vote (%)
1st September 18, 1867 38 2[C] 38.5[C] 36[D] 58.6[D] 2.9
2nd May 16, 1871 38 14 43.7 24 52.2 4.0
3rd December 17, 1874 38 12 43.6 22 55.0 4 Independents 1.4
4th September 17, 1878 38 32 51.7 6 45.1 3.1
5th June 20, 1882 38 14 46.9 24 51.8 1.3
6th June 1886 37 10 43.6 28 54.7 1.6
7th May 1890 38 9 46.7 29 52.2 1.0
8th March 1894 37 13 47.3 25 51.9 0.8
9th April 13, 1897 38 3 44.4 34 55.0 1 Independent 0.5
10th October 2, 1901 38 2 41.7 36 56.7 1.5
11th June 20, 1906 38 4 42.1 32 53.2 2 Independents 4.6
12th June 14, 1911 38 12 45.4 26 51.1 3.5
13th June 20, 1916 43 12 48.8 31 50.4 0.8
14th July 27, 1920 43 3 24.7 29 44.4 5 16.9 6 United Farmers 14.0
15th June 25, 1925 43 40 60.9 3 36.3 – 2.8
16th October 1, 1928 43 24 51.7 18 47.2 1 1.1
17th August 22, 1933 30 8 45.9 22 52.6 – 1.5
18th June 20, 1937 30 5 46.0 25 52.9 – 1.1
19th October 28, 1941 30 5 40.3 22 52.7 3 7.0
20th October 23, 1945 30 0 33.5 28 52.7 2 13.6 0.1
21st June 9, 1949 37 8 39.2 27 51.0 2 9.6 0.1
22nd May 26, 1953 37 13 43.6 22 49.0 2 6.9 0.5
23rd October 30, 1956 43 24 48.6 18 48.2 1 3.0 0.1
24th June 7, 1960 43 27 48.3 15 42.6 1 8.9 0.2
25th October 8, 1963 43 39 56.2 4 39.7 – 4.1
26th May 30, 1967 46 40 52.8 6 41.8 – 5.2 0.2
27th October 13, 1970 46 21 46.9 23 46.1 2 6.7 0.2
28th April 2, 1974 46 12 38.6 31 47.9 3 13.0 0.5
29th September 19, 1978 52 31 45.8 17 39.4 4 14.4 0.4
30th October 6, 1981 52 37 47.5 13 33.2 1 18.1 1 Cape Breton Labour 1.2
31st November 6, 1984 52 42 50.6 6 31.3 3 15.9 1 Cape Breton Labour 2.2[E]
32nd September 6, 1988 52 28 43.4 21 39.6 2 15.8 1 Cape Breton Labour 1.1
33rd May 25, 1993 52 9 31.1 40 49.7 3 17.7 0.9
34th March 24, 1998 52 14 29.8 19 35.3 19 34.6 2.4
35th July 27, 1999 52 30 39.2 11 29.8 11 30.0 1.1
36th August 5, 2003 52 25 36.3 12 31.5 15 31.0 1.2
37th June 13, 2006 52 23 39.6 9 23.4 20 34.6 2.4
38th June 9, 2009 52 10 24.5 11 27.2 31 45.3 3.0
39th October 8, 2013 51 11 26.3 33 45.7 7 26.8 1.2
40th May 30, 2017 51 17 35.78 27 39.51 7 21.41 3.3
41st August 18, 2021 55 31 38.44 17 36.67 6 20.93 1 Independent 1.17

Notes

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A Includes results for Progressive Conservatives.
B Includes results for Co-operative Commonwealth Federation prior to 1963; and also results for the Labour party prior to 1937.
C Includes Pro Confederation.
D Includes Anti-Confederates.
E Includes 2.0% for Cape Breton Labour Party.

See also

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References

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  • Government of Nova Scotia. "Election Summary From 1867 - 2006" (PDF). Elections Statistics. Elections Nova Scotia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
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