1982 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1982 Prince Edward Island general election was held on September 27, 1982.[2]

1982 Prince Edward Island general election

September 27, 1982
All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	78.2%[1]
PC Leader James Lee Joe Ghiz Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since November 7, 1981 October 24, 1981 Leader's seat 5th Queens 6th Queens Last election 21 seats, 53.3% 11 seats, 45.3% Seats won 21 11 Seat change Popular vote 71,274 60,771 Percentage 53.7% 45.8% Swing 0.4pp 0.5pp
Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election James Lee Progressive Conservative Premier after election James Lee Progressive Conservative

In 1981, after just two years as premier, Angus MacLean resigned his position after the election of James Lee to the Progressive Conservative leadership. In the same year, the Liberals selected future premier Joe Ghiz as their leader. Lee called an early election (traditionally elections in PEI are held every four years) in which a few seats changed hands, but the overall count stayed the same as in 1979.

This election also marked the lowest point in popular support for the New Democrats on PEI, who were led by an interim leader.

Party standings

↓

21	11
PC	Liberal

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1979	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Progressive Conservative	James Lee	21	21	-	71,274	53.7%	+0.4%
	Liberal	Joe Ghiz	11	11	-	60,771	45.8%	+0.5%
	New Democratic	David Burke (interim)	0	0	-	629	0.5%	-0.8%

Popular vote PC   53.72% Liberal   45.80% New Democratic   0.47%

Seats summary PC   65.63% Liberal   34.37%

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.[3]

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Ross "Johnny" Young	Liberal		Albert Fogarty	Progressive Conservative
2nd Kings		Roddy Pratt	Progressive Conservative		Francis O'Brien	Progressive Conservative
3rd Kings		A. A. "Joey" Fraser	Progressive Conservative		Peter MacLeod	Progressive Conservative
4th Kings		Pat Binns	Progressive Conservative		Gilbert R. Clements	Liberal
5th Kings		Arthur J. MacDonald	Liberal		Lowell Johnston	Progressive Conservative

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		William MacDougall	Progressive Conservative		Prowse Chappel	Progressive Conservative
5th Prince		George McMahon	Progressive Conservative		Peter Pope	Progressive Conservative

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Marion Reid	Progressive Conservative		Leone Bagnall	Progressive Conservative
2nd Queens		Gordon Lank	Progressive Conservative		Lloyd MacPhail	Progressive Conservative
3rd Queens		Horace B. Carver	Progressive Conservative		Fred Driscoll	Progressive Conservative
4th Queens		Wilbur MacDonald	Progressive Conservative		Daniel Compton	Progressive Conservative
5th Queens		James M. Lee	Progressive Conservative		Wilfred MacDonald	Progressive Conservative
6th Queens		Joseph Atallah Ghiz	Liberal		Paul Connolly	Liberal

Sources

1. https://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/pei-election/voter-turnout-dips-below-80-per-cent-in-2019-pei-election-305149/
2. "Provincial General Election Results, 1982" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
3. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.