2023 Prince Edward Island general election

The 2023 Prince Edward Island general election was held to elect the members of the 67th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island on 3 April 2023. The election normally required by 2 October under Prince Edward Island's fixed election date legislation was called early by Premier Dennis King at his nomination meeting on 6 March.

2023 Prince Edward Island general election

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All 27 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 14 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	68.5%
First party Second party Third party   LIB Leader Dennis King Sharon Cameron Peter Bevan-Baker Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Green Leader since 9 February 2019 19 November 2022 3 November 2012 Leader's seat Brackley-Hunter River Ran in New Haven-Rocky Point (lost) New Haven-Rocky Point Last election 13 seats, 36.73% 6 seats, 29.40% 8 seats, 30.56% Seats before 15 4 8 Seats won 22 3 2 Seat change 7 1 6 Popular vote 41,828 12,876 16,133 Percentage 55.92% 17.21% 21.57% Swing 19.19% 12.19% 8.99%
Results by riding Results by polling area
Premier before election Dennis King Progressive Conservative Premier after election Dennis King Progressive Conservative

The Progressive Conservatives under incumbent Premier Dennis King won a majority government, gaining a combined seven seats from the Liberal and Green parties. The Liberals won three seats and became the Official Opposition, replacing the Greens who held two of their seats; however, newly acclaimed Liberal leader Sharon Cameron challenged Green leader Peter Bevan-Baker for his own seat and lost, placing third behind Bevan-Baker and the PC candidate. Following the election, Cameron and Bevan-Baker resigned as leaders of their respective parties.

The New Democratic Party ran candidates in all 27 districts, and the Island Party officially registered for the first time since the 2011 election, running candidates in 11 districts. Neither party elected any members to the Legislature. Voter turnout of 68.5% was the province's lowest recorded for a general election since Elections PEI began keeping records in 1966.

Background

Prince Edward Island's fixed election date legislation calls for a general election to be held prior to the first Monday of October in the fourth calendar year subsequent to the previous general election, which would have required an election to be held by 2 October. Instead, the election was called early for 3 April.

Incumbents not standing for re-election

The following MLAs announced that they would not run in the 2023 provincial election (Ole Hammarlund lost a contested nomination for his seat):

Retiring incumbent			Electoral district	Subsequent party nominee		Elected MLA
	Colin LaVie	Progressive Conservative	Souris-Elmira		Robin Croucher		Robin Croucher
	James Aylward	Progressive Conservative	Stratford-Keppoch		Jill Burridge		Jill Burridge
	Hannah Bell	Green	Charlottetown-Belvedere		Joanna Morrison		Susie Dillon
	Ole Hammarlund	Green	Charlottetown-Brighton		Janice Harper		Rob Lantz
	Sonny Gallant	Liberal	Evangeline-Miscouche		Pat MacLellan		Gilles Arsenault

Timeline

• 23 April 2019: General election held. The Progressive Conservative Party wins the most seats, while the incumbent Liberal Party falls to third place. The Green Party becomes the Opposition.
• 26 April 2019: Outgoing Premier Wade MacLauchlan announces intention to resign leadership of the Liberal Party upon appointment of an interim leader.
• 8 May 2019: Robert Mitchell is appointed interim Liberal leader.
• 9 May 2019: Dennis King's Progressive Conservative government is sworn in, following the resignation of Wade MacLauchlan's Liberal government.
• 13 June 2019: Deferred election date announced for Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park.
• 6 July 2019: Advance voting in Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park deferred election began, also took place on 8 and 12 July.
• 15 July 2019: Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park deferred election held, Progressive Conservative candidate Natalie Jameson is elected.
• 9 September 2019: Robert Mitchell resigns as interim Liberal leader.
• 16 September 2019: Sonny Gallant is appointed interim Liberal leader.
• 1 September 2020: Joe Byrne resigns as leader of the New Democratic Party.
• 23 April 2022: Michelle Neill is elected leader of the New Democratic Party.
• 19 November 2022: Sharon Cameron is acclaimed leader of the Liberal Party, being the only candidate in the party's leadership election.
• 6 March 2023: Dennis King is nominated as the PC candidate for Brackley-Hunter River, and announces that the election will be held on 3 April.
• 3 April 2023: General election held. Progressive Conservatives win a majority government.

Changes in MLAs

Changes in seats held (2019–2023)

Seat	Before				Change
	Date	Member	Party	Reason	Date	Member	Party
Charlottetown-Winsloe	3 September 2020	Robert Mitchell	█ Liberal	Resigned from Legislature	2 November 2020	Zack Bell	█ PC
Cornwall-Meadowbank	18 August 2021	Heath MacDonald	█ Liberal	Resigned to run in Malpeque in the 2021 Canadian federal election.	15 November 2021	Mark McLane	█ PC

Results

Summary of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island election results

Party		Party leader	Candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				2019	Dissol.	2023	Change	#	%	Change
	Progressive Conservative	Dennis King	27	13	15	22	+9	41,828	55.92	+19.19
	Green	Peter Bevan-Baker	25	8	8	2	−6	16,133	21.57	−8.99
	Liberal	Sharon Cameron	25	6	4	3	−3	12,876	17.21	−12.19
	New Democratic	Michelle Neill	27	0	0	0	0	3,359	4.49	+1.53
	Island	Cecile Sly (Ahava Kálnássy de Kálnás)	11	0	0	0	0	411	0.55	+0.55
	Independent		4	0	0	0	0	184	0.25	−0.09
Blank and invalid ballots
Total			92	27	27	27	0		100	0
Registered voters / turnout

Popular vote

PC			55.92%
Green			21.57%
Liberal			17.21%
New Democratic			4.49%
Others			0.80%

Seats summary

PC			81.48%
Liberal			11.11%
Green			7.41%

Synopsis of results

2023 PEI general election - synopsis of riding results, grouped by federal riding

Riding	2019		Winning party						Turnout	Votes
			Party		Votes	Share	Margin #	Margin %		PC	Green	Lib	NDP	Island	Ind	Total
Cardigan
Belfast-Murray River		PC		PC	1,510	58.7%	990	38.5%	65.8%	1,510	419	520	124	–	–	2,574
Georgetown-Pownal		PC		PC	1,961	69.8%	1,609	57.3%	73.0%	1,961	352	340	79	78	–	2,810
Mermaid-Stratford		Grn		PC	1,245	45.3%	38	1.4%	68.8%	1,245	1,207	254	43	–	–	2,749
Montague-Kilmuir		PC		PC	1,847	70.2%	1,468	55.8%	66.7%	1,847	379	271	38	38	58	2,631
Morell-Donagh		PC		PC	1,899	70.6%	1,550	57.6%	68.1%	1,899	349	282	115	44	–	2,689
Souris-Elmira		PC		PC	1,593	55.4%	836	29.1%	75.8%	1,593	757	481	29	16	–	2,876
Stanhope-Marshfield		PC		PC	2,209	79.6%	1,643	59.2%	65.8%	2,209	–	–	566	–	–	2,775
Stratford-Keppoch		PC		PC	1,479	52.3%	632	22.4%	72.0%	1,479	847	471	32	–	–	2,829
Malpeque
Borden-Kinkora		PC		PC	1,719	60.1%	724	25.3%	67.7%	1,719	995	–	83	61	–	2,858
Brackley-Hunter River		PC		PC	1,903	68.2%	1,420	50.9%	70.2%	1,903	483	321	83	–	–	2,790
Cornwall-Meadowbank		Lib		PC	1,750	54.8%	975	30.6%	68.4%	1,750	775	611	60	–	–	3,196
Kensington-Malpeque		PC		PC	2,294	76.6%	1,831	61.1%	70.7%	2,294	463	169	67	–	–	2,993
New Haven-Rocky Point		Grn		Grn	1,457	42.8%	106	3.2%	75.4%	1,351	1,457	502	49	49	–	3,408
Rustico-Emerald		PC		PC	1,990	62.5%	1,431	44.9%	70.8%	1,990	559	532	102	–	–	3,183
Charlottetown
Charlottetown-Belvedere		Grn		PC	1,418	51.1%	779	28.1%	66.7%	1,418	639	560	133	25	–	2,775
Charlottetown-Brighton		Grn		PC	1,171	43.0%	307	11.3%	68.4%	1,171	864	487	202	–	–	2,724
Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park		PC		PC	1,660	61.9%	1,137	42.4%	63.2%	1,660	523	352	125	21	–	2,681
Charlottetown-Victoria Park		Grn		Grn	1,052	42.0%	74	3.0%	60.8%	978	1,052	293	150	32	–	2,505
Charlottetown-West Royalty		Lib		Lib	1,207	45.1%	165	6.2%	64.2%	1,042	301	1,207	63	28	36	2,677
Charlottetown-Winsloe		Lib		PC	1,861	60.6%	1,308	42.6%	71.4%	1,861	553	540	78	–	41	3,073
Egmont
Alberton-Bloomfield		PC		PC	1,532	57.6%	636	23.9%	73.6%	1,532	132	896	102	–	–	2,662
Evangeline-Miscouche		Lib		PC	1,384	61.7%	841	37.5%	69.4%	1,384	271	543	45	–	–	2,243
O'Leary-Inverness		Lib		Lib	894	37.2%	156	6.5%	71.2%	738	72	894	702	–	–	2,406
Summerside-South Drive		Green		PC	1,378	53.3%	639	24.7%	57.7%	1,378	739	397	70	–	–	2,584
Summerside-Wilmot		Green		PC	1,651	56.7%	670	23.0%	66.8%	1,651	981	214	45	19	–	2,910
Tignish-Palmer Road		Lib		Lib	1,527	58.7%	588	22.6%	75.5%	939	–	1,527	137	–	–	2,603
Tyne Valley-Sherbrooke		Green		PC	1,326	51.2%	362	14.0%	64.9%	1,326	964	212	37	–	49	2,588

1. "2023 Province-Wide Summary". electionspei.ca. Elections PEI. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
2. Neatby, Stu (5 April 2023). "P.E.I.'s 2023 election turnout was lowest in decades and there are no easy answers as to why". SaltWire.
3. including spoilt ballots
4. minor political parties receiving less than 1% of the national popular vote are aggregated under "Other"; independent candidates are aggregated separately

  = open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = incumbent re-elected in same riding

  = incumbency arose from byelection gain

  = other incumbent renominated

Resulting composition of the 67th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island

Source		Party
		PC	Lib	Grn	Total
Seats retained	Incumbents returned	11	3	2	16
	Open seats held	2			2
Seats changing hands	Incumbents defeated	4			4
	Open seats gained	3			3
	Byelection gains held	2			2
Total		22	3	2	27

Seats changing hands

MLAs who lost their seats

Party		Name	Riding	Year elected	Seat held by party since	Defeated by	Party
	Green	Michele Beaton	Mermaid-Stratford	2019	2019	Jenn Redmond		Progressive Conservative
		Steve Howard	Summerside-South Drive	2019	2019	Barb Ramsay
		Lynne Lund	Summerside-Wilmot	2019	2019	Tyler DesRoches
		Trish Altass	Tyne Valley-Sherbrooke	2019	2019	Hilton MacLennan

Open seats changing hands

Party in 2019		Candidate	Retiring incumbent	Constituency	Defeated by	Party
	Green	Joanna Morrison	Hannah Bell	Charlottetown-Belvedere	Susie Dillon		Progressive Conservative
		Janice Harper	Ole Hammarlund	Charlottetown-Brighton	Rob Lantz
	Liberal	Pat MacLellan	Sonny Gallant	Evangeline-Miscouche	Gilles Arsenault

Candidates

• Party leaders' names are in bold; cabinet ministers' names are in italics.
• Incumbents who didn't run for re-election are denoted with a dagger †.

Cardigan

Electoral district	Candidates												Incumbent
	PC		Green		Liberal		NDP		Island		Independent
4. Belfast-Murray River		Darlene Compton		Laverne MacInnes		Katherine Bryson		Michelle Hodgson						Darlene Compton
2. Georgetown-Pownal		Steven Myers		Patrick Brothers		Allister Veinot		Edith Perry		Lucy Robbins				Steven Myers
5. Mermaid-Stratford		Jenn Redmond		Michele Beaton		Gail MacDonald		Lawrence Millar						Michele Beaton
3. Montague-Kilmuir		Cory Deagle		Norma Dingwell		Nick Sheppard		Robert Lethbridge		Gary Robbins		Angela Barton		Cory Deagle
7. Morell-Donagh		Sidney MacEwen		John Allen MacLean		Terry MacDonald		Kevin Trainor		Christopher Landry				Sidney MacEwen
1. Souris-Elmira		Robin Croucher		Boyd Leard		Amber Dennis		Gordon Gay		Ahava Kalnassy de Kalnas				Colin LaVie†
8. Stanhope-Marshfield		Bloyce Thompson						Marian White						Bloyce Thompson
6. Stratford-Keppoch		Jill Burridge		Lana Beth Barkhouse		Greg Arsenault		Olalekam Faromika						James Aylward†

Malpeque

Electoral district	Candidates										Incumbent
	PC		Green		Liberal		NDP		Island
19. Borden-Kinkora		Jamie Fox		Matt MacFarlane				Carole MacFarlane		Paul Smitz		Jamie Fox
15. Brackley-Hunter River		Dennis King		Greg Bradley		Nicole Ford		Leah-Jane Hayward				Dennis King
16. Cornwall-Meadowbank		Mark McLane		Tayte Willows		Don Leary		Larry Hale				Mark McLane
20. Kensington-Malpeque		Matthew MacKay		Hunter Guindon		Richard Schroeter		Maggie Larocque				Matthew MacKay
17. New Haven-Rocky Point		Donalda Docherty		Peter Bevan-Baker		Sharon Cameron		Douglas Dahn		Neil Emery		Peter Bevan-Baker
18. Rustico-Emerald		Brad Trivers		Ranald MacFarlane		Flory Sanderson		David Wilson				Brad Trivers

Charlottetown

Electoral district	Candidates												Incumbent
	PC		Green		Liberal		NDP		Island		Independent
11. Charlottetown-Belvedere		Susie Dillon		Joanna Morrison		Marcia Carroll		Aidin Mousavian		Jayne McAskill				Hannah Bell†
13. Charlottetown-Brighton		Rob Lantz		Janice Harper		Sandra Sunil		Michelle Neill						Ole Hammarlund† (Lost re-nomination)
9. Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park		Natalie Jameson		Adina Nault		Dellon Paul		Tristan Mitchell		Cari Barbour				Natalie Jameson
12. Charlottetown-Victoria Park		Tim Keizer		Karla Bernard		Barb MacLeod		Joe Byrne		Danni Moher				Karla Bernard
14. Charlottetown-West Royalty		Kristi MacKay		Nick LeClair		Gord McNeilly		Simone Webster		Bill Cann		Jessica Simmonds		Gord McNeilly
10. Charlottetown-Winsloe		Zack Bell		Charles Sanderson		Judy Hughes		Campbell Webster				Georgina Bassett		Zack Bell

Egmont

Electoral district	Candidates												Incumbent
	PC		Green		Liberal		NDP		Island		Independent
26. Alberton-Bloomfield		Ernie Hudson		Ron McConnell		Pat Murphy		Kester Nurse						Ernie Hudson
24. Evangeline-Miscouche		Gilles Arsenault		Jason Charette		Pat MacLellan		Charles Turriff						Sonny Gallant†
25. O'Leary-Inverness		Daniel MacDonald		Richard Lush		Robert Henderson		Herb Dickieson						Robert Henderson
22. Summerside-South Drive		Barb Ramsay		Steve Howard		Nancy Beth Guptill		Kathryn Yule						Steve Howard
21. Summerside-Wilmot		Tyler DesRoches		Lynne Lund		Don Reid		Cassie MacKay		Eriena O'Reilly				Lynne Lund
27. Tignish-Palmer Road		April Delaney				Hal Perry		Gail Kinch						Hal Perry
23. Tyne Valley-Sherbrooke		Hilton MacLennan		Trish Altass		Wayne Cobb		Carol Rybinski				Wayne Biggar		Trish Altass

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	Sample size	Lead
General election results	3 April 2023		55.9	21.6	17.2	4.5	74,791	34.3
Forum Research	31 March 2023		47	28	20	4	424	19
Mainstreet Research	27 – 28 March 2023		50.4	21.9	22.3	5.4	962	28.1
Mainstreet Research	6 – 7 March 2023		58.9	14.3	23.2	3.6	515	35.7
	6 March 2023	Dissolution of the 66th PEI General Assembly, campaign begins
Narrative Research	13 February – 2 March 2023		49	22	19	9	420	27
Narrative Research	2 – 23 November 2022		49	25	20	4	400	24
	19 November 2022	Sharon Cameron is elected leader of the Liberal party
Narrative Research	9 – 16 August 2022		55	22	18	4	300	33
Narrative Research	4 – 24 May 2022		50	21	20	8	300	29
Narrative Research	9 – 22 February 2022		66	15	14	4	300	51
Narrative Research	3 – 28 November 2021		51	19	21	8	600	30
Narrative Research	9 – 25 August 2021		48	28	17	7	600	20
Narrative Research	18 – 28 May 2021		53	23	19	4	600	30
Narrative Research	2 – 16 February 2021		54	21	17	4	300	33
Narrative Research	11 – 29 November 2020		61	18	19	2	300	42
Narrative Research	4 – 19 August 2020		48	25	23	4	301	23
Narrative Research	29 April – 17 May 2020		57	22	22	1	216	32
MQO Research	3 – 10 March 2020		41	29	24	6	283	12
Narrative Research	3 – 19 February 2020		45	28	21	6	207	17
Narrative Research	1 – 22 November 2019		38	29	26	6	600	9
Narrative Research	1 – 22 August 2019		45	37	16	1	300	9
MQO Research	31 July – 6 August 2019		40	32	23	2	400	8
Narrative Research	6 – 23 May 2019		43	36	17	3	300	7
General election results	23 April 2019		36.7	30.6	29.4	3.0	80,329	5.9
Polling firm	Date(s) conducted	Link					Sample size	Lead
			PC	Green	Liberal	NDP