Number of seats won by major parties at each election
Conservative Liberal NDP Other
Electoral results by parties and independent MLAs (as a percentage of total House of Assembly seats) from 1933 to 2009. This article provides a summary of results for the general elections Canadian province of Nova Scotia ' s unicameral legislative body , the Nova Scotia House of Assembly . The number of seats has varied over time, from a low of thirty during the 1930s and early 1940s, to the current high of fifty-two. This article only covers elections since Nova Scotia became part of the newly formed Canadian Confederation in 1867. Prior to that, Nova Scotia was a British colony. The Nova Scotia House of Assembly dates back to 1758 , and Nova Scotia became the first British colony to be granted responsible government from London in 1848.
The chart on the upper right provides a graphical summary of the results, with the most recent elections towards the right. It shows how the Liberal party (red) dominated the province's early political history, winning nineteen of the first twenty-two elections from 1867 to 1953; and that since 1953, the Conservatives (blue) have been the most successful party, winning eleven of the fifteen elections since then. The New Democratic Party (orange), after winning Official Opposition status in four consecutive elections, finally achieved government for the first time in the 2009 election .
Summary of results
The table below shows the total number of seats won by the major political parties at each election. It also shows the percentage of the vote obtained by the major political parties at each election, if greater than 0.1%. The winning party's totals are shown in bold. To date, no party has formed a government that did not have the largest share of the vote. Full details on any election are linked via the number of the election at the start of the row.
Election
Total
Conservative [A] Liberal
NDP [B] Other
Seats
Vote (%)
Seats
Vote (%)
Seats
Vote (%)
Seats
Seat-winning party
Vote (%)
1st
September 18, 1867
38
2[C]
38.5[C]
36 [D] 58.6 [D]
2.9
2nd
May 16, 1871
38
14
43.7
24
52.2
4.0
3rd
December 17, 1874
38
12
43.6
22
55.0
4
Independents
1.4
4th
September 17, 1878
38
32
51.7
6
45.1
3.1
5th
June 20, 1882
38
14
46.9
24
51.8
1.3
6th
June 1886
37
10
43.6
28
54.7
1.6
7th
May 1890
38
9
46.7
29
52.2
1.0
8th
March 1894
37
13
47.3
25
51.9
0.8
9th
April 13, 1897
38
3
44.4
34
55.0
1
Independent
0.5
10th
October 2, 1901
38
2
41.7
36
56.7
1.5
11th
June 20, 1906
38
4
42.1
32
53.2
2
Independents
4.6
12th
June 14, 1911
38
12
45.4
26
51.1
3.5
13th
June 20, 1916
43
12
48.8
31
50.4
0.8
14th
July 27, 1920
43
3
24.7
29
44.4
5
16.9
6
United Farmers
14.0
15th
June 25, 1925
43
40
60.9
3
36.3
–
2.8
16th
October 1, 1928
43
24
51.7
18
47.2
1
1.1
17th
August 22, 1933
30
8
45.9
22
52.6
–
1.5
18th
June 20, 1937
30
5
46.0
25
52.9
–
1.1
19th
October 28, 1941
30
5
40.3
22
52.7
3
7.0
20th
October 23, 1945
30
0
33.5
28
52.7
2
13.6
0.1
21st
June 9, 1949
37
8
39.2
27
51.0
2
9.6
0.1
22nd
May 26, 1953
37
13
43.6
22
49.0
2
6.9
0.5
23rd
October 30, 1956
43
24
48.6
18
48.2
1
3.0
0.1
24th
June 7, 1960
43
27
48.3
15
42.6
1
8.9
0.2
25th
October 8, 1963
43
39
56.2
4
39.7
–
4.1
26th
May 30, 1967
46
40
52.8
6
41.8
–
5.2
0.2
27th
October 13, 1970
46
21
46.9
23
46.1
2
6.7
0.2
28th
April 2, 1974
46
12
38.6
31
47.9
3
13.0
0.5
29th
September 19, 1978
52
31
45.8
17
39.4
4
14.4
0.4
30th
October 6, 1981
52
37
47.5
13
33.2
1
18.1
1
Cape Breton Labour
1.2
31st
November 6, 1984
52
42
50.6
6
31.3
3
15.9
1
Cape Breton Labour
2.2[E]
32nd
September 6, 1988
52
28
43.4
21
39.6
2
15.8
1
Cape Breton Labour
1.1
33rd
May 25, 1993
52
9
31.1
40
49.7
3
17.7
0.9
34th
March 24, 1998
52
14
29.8
19
35.3
19
34.6
2.4
35th
July 27, 1999
52
30
39.2
11
29.8
11
30.0
1.1
36th
August 5, 2003
52
25
36.3
12
31.5
15
31.0
1.2
37th
June 13, 2006
52
23
39.6
9
23.4
20
34.6
2.4
38th
June 9, 2009
52
10
24.5
11
27.2
31
45.3
3.0
39th
October 8, 2013
51
11
26.3
33
45.7
7
26.8
1.2
40th
May 30, 2017
51
17
35.78
27
39.51
7
21.41
3.3
41st
August 18, 2021
55
31
38.44
17
36.67
6
20.93
1
Independent
1.17
42nd
November 26, 2024
55
43
52.49
2
22.69
9
22.17
1
Independent
1.18
Notes
A Progressive Conservatives .B Co-operative Commonwealth Federation prior to 1963; and also results for the Labour party prior to 1937.C D E
See also
References
Most recent Future elections Lists Electoral districts System
