Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party Wins Canada’s General Election Again

The Liberal Party of Canada won the general election held on Monday according to projections by Canadian radio and television, Radio-Canada, which marks the third consecutive victory for their leader, Justin Trudeau.

In the absence of a recount of a large part of the votes in the center and west of the country, Radio-Canada noted that the Liberals have so far won 150 of 338 MPs in the lower house of parliament, which would lead Trudeau to a new minority government.

At 10:45 p.m. in Ottawa (2:45 p.m. GMT Tuesday), the projections gave the Liberal Party 150 deputies against 117 from the PC, 28 from the sovereignist Bloque Quebequés (BQ), 27 for the New Social Democratic Party and 3 for the Green Party.

Around 30 million people were called to the polls on Monday to elect the 338 deputies of the Lower House of Parliament who will decide which party will form the country’s next government.

The latest poll results released before the polls opened put the Liberals and Conservatives in a technical tie on the level of intention to vote.: the Liberal Party would have the support of 31.5% of the electorate while the Conservative Party would add 31%.

But the peculiarities of the Canadian electoral system, which is direct suffrage, for which in reality 338 elections are held in the country today, one for each electoral district that sends a member to the lower house of Parliament, will allow Trudeau’s liberals to get more seats. than the Conservatives.

Canadian public broadcasting, Radio-Canada, predicts that the Liberals will win 155 MPs on Monday, while the Conservatives will have to be content with 119. Behind the Social Democratic New Democratic Party (NDP), with 32 MPs; and the sovereign Bloque Quebequés (BQ), with 31 deputies. The Green Party would also win a seat.

If these figures are confirmed, Trudeau’s victory will be bittersweet because he won’t reach the absolute majority he wants when he brought the election forward and would increase the pressure on his future leadership within the Liberals.

In August, Trudeau decided to call a snap election just two years after the previous election and when polls showed the Liberals were up to 10 percentage points ahead of the Tories.

At that time, a majority of Canadians approved of the government’s handling of the pandemic and the economic crisis created by the disease. After the election was called, many voters expressed their dissatisfaction with the election and the Liberals began to lose their support.

During the election campaign, Trudeau championed the need to call an election so that Canadians could decide what steps to take to emerge from the covid-19 crisis.

Opposition parties accused him of having called elections in the midst of a health emergency in an attempt to obtain an absolute majority in Parliament.

But Trudeau struggled to defend the decision and justify the more than C $ 600 million (US $ 468 million) the election will cost, the highest bill in the country’s electoral history.

Trudeau voted Monday morning with his three children and his wife, Sophie Grégoire, in his riding in the city of Montreal. Around the same time, O’Toole did the same at a polling station in the city of Oshawa, about 60 kilometers east of Toronto.

After voting, Trudeau posted a message on his Twitter account encouraging participation with a photo of him appearing voting surrounded by his three children: “I just voted in the 44th election. You should too “.

O’Toole also used Twitter to encourage Canadians to go to the polls. “Proud to vote today. Make sure you do the same, ”said the Tory leader whose message was accompanied by a photo with his wife, Rebecca, at the foot of the ballot box.

The only significant incident recorded in the early hours of the day was a clash at a polling station in the city of Edmonton, in the west of the country, when two people refused to cover their mouths and noses with masks, as it is mandatory. .

Witnesses to the incident said a man and woman attempted to vote without wearing masks, which sparked an altercation that forced police to intervene. After the officers arrived, the two individuals left the center without voting.

Covid-19 protective measures are making the voting process slower this year than in the past. In cities like Toronto, long lines have formed at some polling stations for measures restricting the number of people inside.

(With information from EFE)

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