Elections Canada Says More Than 19.5M Voters Cast a Ballot in Federal Election

Elections Canada says more than 68 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in the federal election—more than 19.5 million people.

While this election was widely expected to see increased turnout, it did not surpass the record set in March 1958, when 79.4 percent of eligible Canadians voted.

But turnout was higher than in the last federal election, when 62.6 percent of eligible voters headed to the polls.

Elections Canada does not gather demographics data so it’s not clear which groups turned out to vote. The agency says postelection surveys can show which groups faced barriers to voting and what can be done to address them in future elections.

The Liberal party ended the election with 43.7 percent of the total vote and 169 seats, while the Conservative party secured 41.3 percent of the vote and 144 seats.

The Bloc Québécois and the NDP both took 6.3 percent of the vote, and will hold 22 and 7 seats respectively.

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