Thirty-seventh General Election 2000: Official Voting Results: Synopsis

POLLING RESULTS

Voting methods

In all, 12 997 185 electors, or 61.2%* of the registered electors, exercised their right to vote. Most, 12 019 996 or 92.5%, voted on election day. A total of 139 412 ballots were rejected, leaving 12 857 773 valid votes.

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*

The turnout of 61.2% in 2000 was adjusted to arrive at the final turnout of 64.1%, after our normal maintenance of the National Register of Electors to remove the names of deceased electors and duplicates arising from moves. The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada explained the adjustment during his appearance before the Subcommittee on Electoral Boundaries Readjustment on October 6, 2003, and his appearance to discuss the 2004 Main Estimates before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs on March 5, 2004.

TABLE J
Ballots cast by voting method ?
37th general election 2000

*	Includes Canadian electors temporarily residing outside Canada, Canadian Forces electors and incarcerated electors serving sentences of less than two years.
**	Includes Canadian electors residing in Canada who voted by special ballot in or outside their electoral districts.

Some electors voted at advance polling stations. Those polls were open from 12 noon until 8:00 p.m. on the 10th, 9th and 7th days before election day – November 17, 18 and 20, 2000. A total of 781 187 ballots (of which 775 157 were valid) were cast at advance polls.

Others voted by special ballot pursuant to Part 11 of the Canada Elections Act. These electors fell into two groups.

Group 1 comprised Canadian electors temporarily residing outside Canada, Canadian Forces electors and incarcerated electors serving sentences of less than two years. Canadian electors residing temporarily outside Canada were responsible for forwarding their special ballots to Elections Canada in Ottawa not later than 6:00 p.m. on election day. Canadian Forces electors were able to cast their ballots between Monday, the 14th day, and Saturday, the 9th day, before election day – from November 13 to 18, 2000. They could do so on all Canadian Forces bases in Canada or abroad. Incarcerated electors serving sentences of less than two years were able to vote by special ballot at the institutions on the 10th day before election day, that is, on November 17, 2000. Of the 81 833 electors in this first group appearing on the voters list, 31 974 voted (31 116 valid ballots).

Group 2 comprised Canadian citizens residing in Canada who voted by special ballot from within or outside their electoral districts. If they voted from outside their districts, electors had to send their special ballots to Elections Canada in Ottawa not later than 6:00 p.m. on election day. If they voted from within their district, they had to submit their ballots to the office of their returning officer and could do so until the local time at which the polls closed. A total of 164 028 ballots (of which 160 717 were valid) were cast by this group.

In total, 196 001 ballots (of which 191 833 were valid) were cast by special ballot.

Polling results

The Liberal Party of Canada received 40.8% of the valid votes and the largest number of seats, 172, which qualified it to form the new government. The Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance placed second, with 25.5% of the valid votes and 66 seats, and thus qualified to form the official opposition (see Table K).

Five registered parties elected members, and those five parties each obtained more than 8% of the total number of votes. Together, the other six registered parties and the 86 candidates who were not supported by a registered party obtained 2.2% of the votes. None of these candidates was elected.

Of the 301 elected candidates, 62 are women.

TABLE K
Valid votes and seats received, by political affiliation and
province or territory ? 37th general election 2000

Note: Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding.

* For more details, see tables 8 and 9 in Section 1.

 

Recounts

Eight recounts were requested following the validation of the results by the returning officers: in the electoral districts of Champlain (Quebec), Laval Centre (Quebec), Leeds?Grenville (Ontario), Matapédia?Matane (Quebec), Saskatoon?Rosetown?Biggar (Saskatchewan), Palliser (Saskatchewan), Regina?Lumsden?Lake Centre (Saskatchewan) and Regina?Qu?Appelle (Saskatchewan). The first two cases were automatic recounts as provided under section 300 of the Canada Elections Act, because the difference between the two candidates with the largest number of votes was less than one one-thousandth of the total number of ballots cast. In the last three cases, the candidates who asked for a judicial recount of the votes withdrew their requests before the recounts could be completed. In all cases, the placement of the candidates remained the same.

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