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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.
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 | |
42nd | November 26, 2024 | 55 | 43 | 52.49 | 2 | 22.69 | 9 | 22.17 | 1 | Independent | 1.18 |
Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led Nova Scotia into Confederation. He briefly served as the Canadian prime minister, from seven days after parliament had been dissolved, until he resigned on July 8, 1896, following his party's loss in the 1896 Canadian federal election. He is the only medical doctor to have ever held the office of prime minister of Canada and his 68-day tenure as prime minister is the shortest in Canadian history.
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This article covers the history of the Liberal Party of Canada.
This article is the Electoral history of Sir Charles Tupper, the sixth Prime Minister of Canada. A Conservative, he became prime minister upon the resignation of Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell over the Manitoba Schools Question in 1896. Tupper was the shortest-serving prime minister, with a term of only 69 days. He led his party in two general elections and lost both, to Sir Wilfrid Laurier