1988 Nova Scotia general election

1988 Nova Scotia general election

September 6, 1988
52 seats of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly 27 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   PC Lib Leader John Buchanan Vince MacLean Alexa McDonough Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since March 6, 1971 February 22, 1986 November 16, 1980 Leader's seat Halifax Atlantic Cape Breton South Halifax Chebucto Last election 42 6 3 Seats won 28 21 2 Seat change 14 15 1 Popular vote 204,150 186,007 74,038 Percentage 43.4% 39.6% 15.8% Swing 7.2% 8.3% 0.0
Premier before election John Buchanan Progressive Conservative Premier after election John Buchanan Progressive Conservative

The 1988 Nova Scotia general election was held on September 6, 1988 to elect members of the 55th House of Assembly of the Province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative party.

John Dunsworth, who would later gain fame for playing alcoholic trailer park supervisor Jim Lahey on the TV series Trailer Park Boys, stood as the NDP candidate in Halifax Bedford Basin. He finished in third place with a little over 19% of the vote. His underdog campaign was later the subject of a short documentary.

Results

Results by party

	Party	Leader	1984	Seats won	% change	Popular vote	(%)
	Progressive Conservative	John Buchanan	42	28	-33.3%	204,150	43.4%
	Liberal	Vince MacLean	6	21	+250%	186,007	39.6%
	New Democratic	Alexa McDonough	3	2	-33.3%	74,038	15.8%	Other		1	1		5,638	1.2%
Total Seats			52	52		469,833	100%

* Vote share included in "other"

Popular vote PC   43.45% Liberal   39.59% New Democratic   15.76% Others   1.20%

Seats summary PC   53.85% Liberal   40.38% New Democratic   3.85% Others   1.92%

References

• Government of Nova Scotia. "Summary Results from 1867 to 2011" (PDF). Elections Statistics. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
• Government of Nova Scotia. "Election Returns 1988" (PDF). Elections Statistics. Elections Nova Scotia. Retrieved 2013-08-31.