Prince Edward Island general election, 1974

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Results of the 1974 PEI general election.

The Prince Edward Island general election, 1974 was the first election that the NDP contested as a provincial party on PEI. Not since the CCF in 1951 had there been a third party competing for votes on the island. Many Liberals worried that the introduction of the NDP would split the vote on the Left, and cause more Progressive Conservative governments, but history shows that in ridings the NDP does well in, Liberals are more likely to win. In the 12 elections the NDP has taken part in, 7 have been won by the Liberals, 5 have been won by the Progressive Conservatives. In this election the NDP was able to pick up 5.9% of the vote, a number they would only better in 1996 and 2000.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats	Popular vote
	Liberal	Alex Campbell	32	26	53.9
	Progressive Conservative	Melvin McQuaid	32	6	40.2
	New Democrat	Aquinas Ryan	20	0	5.9

References

http://www.electionspei.ca/pdfs/ceoreports/results/1974Report.pdf