1989 Prince Edward Island general election

1989 Prince Edward Island general election
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All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island; 17 seats needed for a majority
	Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election; Joe Ghiz; Liberal	Premier after election ; Joe Ghiz; Liberal

The 1989 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 29, 1989.^[1]

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 2 seats despite taking 36 percent 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 2 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.^[2]

Opinion polls

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level
Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PEILA	PCPEI	NDPPEI	ME	Sample
Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source				ME	Sample
Election 1989	May 29, 1989		60.7	35.8	3.5
Baseline Research	May 10, 1989	^[3]	68	26	6	6−7	200
Election 1986	April 21, 1986		50.3	45.5	4.0

Party standings

↓
30	2
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
Party		Party Leader	1986	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Joe Ghiz	21	30	+9	85,982	60.7%	+10.4%
	Progressive Conservative	Mel Gass	11	2	-9	50,731	35.8%	-9.7%
	New Democratic	Jim Mayne	0	0	-	4,902	3.5%	-0.5%

Popular vote

Liberal			60.72%
PC			35.82%
New Democratic			3.46%

Seats summary

Liberal			93.75%
PC			6.25%

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.^[4]

Kings

District		Party		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		Party		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		Party		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

^ "Provincial General Election Results, 1989" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
^ "Canadian Parliamentary Review - Article". Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
^ "Ghiz to win handily, Islander poll shows". The Windsor Star. May 17, 1989. p. E7.
^ Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2016.