1989 Prince Edward Island general election

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

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 two seats despite taking 36 per cent 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 two 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.

Opinion polls + Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PEILA PCPEI NDPPEI SampleElection 1989May 29, 198960.735.83.5Baseline ResearchMay 10, 198968266Election 1986April 21, 198650.345.54.0

Party standings

+ ↓ 30 2 Liberal PC

PartyParty LeaderSeatsPopular Vote1986ElectedChange#%ChangeLiberalJoe Ghiz2130+985,98260.7%+10.4%Mel Gass112-950,73135.8%-9.7%Jim Mayne00-4,9023.5%-0.5%

Members elected

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.

Kings

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

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

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

Further reading