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All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1979 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 23, 1979. [1]
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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.
