68th Prince Edward Island general election

68th Prince Edward Island general election

←  2023 On or before October 4, 2027 (2027-10-04)
All 27 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 14 seats needed for a majority
LIB GRN Leader Rob Lantz (interim) Hal Perry (interim) Karla Bernard (interim) Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Green Leader since February 21, 2025 April 12, 2023 July 21, 2023 Leader's seat Charlottetown-Brighton Tignish-Palmer Road Charlottetown-Victoria Park Last election 22 seats, 55.92% 3 seats, 17.21% 2 seats, 21.57% Current seats 19 3 3
Incumbent Premier Rob Lantz Progressive Conservative

The 68th Prince Edward Island general election is the next general election to be held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI), to elect the 68th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island. It is tentatively scheduled for the fixed election date of October 4, 2027, but may be held earlier under certain circumstances.

Election date

PEI's fixed election date law, passed in 2008, ^[1] requires a general election to be held on the first Monday in October of the fourth calendar year following the previous general election. ^[2] However, the law does not override the constitutional powers of the province's lieutenant governor to dissolve the Legislature and hold new elections at any time. Under the principles of responsible government, the lieutenant governor only calls elections on the advice of the premier or in response to the failure of a confidence vote in the Legislature. ^[3] Thus it generally remains the premier's prerogative to call elections early, and premiers are often criticized for doing so for political advantage. ^[1] Of PEI's four general elections held since the fixed date was passed into law, only one has been held on the fixed date; the other three were called early. ^[1]

Timeline

2023

• April 3: General election held. The Progressive Conservative Party increases their seat total from 15 to 22 in the 27-seat Legislature, gaining 6 seats from the Green Party and 1 from the Liberal Party. The Liberals form the Official Opposition, replacing the Greens. ^[4] Voter turnout of 68.5% is the province's lowest for a general election since records began in 1966. ^[5]
• April 6: Sharon Cameron resigns as Liberal leader. ^[6]
• April 12: Tignish-Palmer Road MLA Hal Perry is named interim Liberal leader and becomes Leader of the Official Opposition. ^[7]
• June 17: Green Party leader Peter Bevan-Baker announces his intention to resign as leader. ^[8]
• July 21: Charlottetown-Victoria Park MLA Karla Bernard is appointed interim Green Party leader. ^[9]
• November 11: Borden-Kinkora MLA Jamie Fox resigns to run as Malpeque's Conservative candidate in the 2025 Canadian federal election. ^[10]

2024

• February 5: The Borden-Kinkora provincial by-election was scheduled to be held this date but was pushed to February 7 due to a winter storm. ^[11]
• February 7: Green candidate Matt MacFarlane wins the Borden-Kinkora provincial by-election, gaining the seat from the Progressive Conservatives. ^[12]

2025

• February 11: Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park MLA Natalie Jameson resigns to run as Charlottetown's Conservative candidate in the 2025 Canadian federal election.
• February 20: Dennis King announces his resignation as premier, as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, and as Brackley-Hunter River MLA, all effective February 21. ^[13]
• February 21: Rob Lantz is appointed the 34th premier of Prince Edward Island. ^[14]

Opinion polls

The following is a list of scientific opinion polls of published voter intentions.

Polling firm	Date(s) conducted	Link	PC	Green	Liberal	NDP	Island	Others	Sample size	Lead
	February 21, 2025	Dennis King resigns as premier and PC leader, Rob Lantz succeeds him on an interim basis
Narrative Research	November 6–19, 2024	[p 1]	48	24	19	8	1	0	300	24
Narrative Research	August 5–16, 2024	[p 2]	45	32	22	2	0	0	300	13
Narrative Research	May 8–29, 2024	[p 3]	42	33	15	7	1	0	300	9
Narrative Research	February 8–13, 2024	[p 4]	51	28	12	9	1	0	300	23
Narrative Research	November 8–26, 2023	[p 5]	56	18	17	6	1	2	300	38
Narrative Research	August 2–15, 2023	[p 6]	53	22	18	6	1	1	300	31
Narrative Research	May 4–13, 2023	[p 7]	52	25	16	5	1	0	300	27
General election results	April 3, 2023		55.9	21.6	17.2	4.5	0.6	0.3	74,792	34.3

References

1. Yarr, Kevin (March 7, 2023). "Why P.E.I. is having an election in April, when the date fixed by law is in October". CBC News. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
2. "Elections Act". www.princeedwardisland.ca. December 22, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
3. "Confidence Convention". Compendium of Procedure. Parliament of Canada. 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
4. MacKay, Cody (April 3, 2023). "Dennis King promises humility, kindness after winning 2nd term as P.E.I. premier". CBC News. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
5. Yarr, Kevin (April 4, 2023). "Low P.E.I. voter turnout 'cynical response to an early election call'". CBC News. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
6. MacKay, Cody (April 6, 2023). "P.E.I. Liberal Leader Sharon Cameron stepping down". CBC News. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
7. Ross, Shane (April 12, 2023). "Hal Perry takes over as interim leader of P.E.I. Liberals". CBC News. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
8. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-peter-bevan-baker-green-party-1.6880290
9. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-karla-bernard-interim-leader-green-party-1.6913504
10. CBC news
11. "DISTRICT 19 BY-ELECTION | Elections PEI". www.electionspei.ca. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
12. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-borden-kinkora-advance-poll-1.7107422
13. Brun, Stephen (February 20, 2025). "Dennis King steps down as Prince Edward Island's premier after nearly 6 years in the job". CBC News. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
14. Brun, Stephen (February 20, 2025). "Rob Lantz to become P.E.I.'s new premier and interim PC leader after King's resignation". CBC News. Retrieved February 20, 2025.

Opinion poll sources

1. "Satisfaction with the PEI King government remains strong". Narrative Research. November 26, 2024. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
2. "Satisfaction with PEI King government has increased compared with three months ago". Narrative Research. August 23, 2024. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
3. "Satisfaction with PEI King government has declined compared with three months ago". Narrative Research. June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
4. "Satisfaction with PEI King government has decreased compared with three months ago". Narrative Research. February 28, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
5. "Satisfaction with PEI King government remains strong, although down from three months ago". Narrative Research. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
6. "Satisfaction with PEI King government remains strong". Narrative Research. August 24, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
7. "Satisfaction with King government remains strong in PEI post-election, with party and leader support unchanged since the election". Narrative Research. May 24, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.