IMPORTANT UPDATE: These resultsinclude the judicial recount inMontmagny--L'Islet--Kamouraska--Rivière-du-Loup, QC, whichdeclared the NDP candidate the winner instead of the Conservative whohad been declared elected on election night.Threeother recounts were also conducted without changing the winner.

# Seats / % Votes
Region						Other	Total
		1	-	4	2	-	7
		1	-	3	-	-	4
		4	-	4	3	-	11
		8	-	1	1	-	10
	4	5	-	7	59	0	75
		73	-	11	22	-	106
		11	-	1	2	-	14
		13	-	1	-	-	14
		27	-	-	1	-	28
		21	1	2	12	-	36
		-	-	-	1	-	1
		1	-	-	-	-	1
		1	-	-	-	-	1

2011Official Voter Turnout: 61.1%
Detailed official election results on a riding-by riding basis areavailable atElectionsCanada

						OTHER
2011Seats	4	166	1	34	103	0
2008Seats	49	143	-	77	37	2
2006Seats	51	124	-	103	29	1

You can look up detailednational orprovincial polling results for thewhole campaign period.
							Total Election Difference
Forum	May 1	5	36	6	19	33	8
Nanos	Apr 30-May 1	5.7	37.1	3.8	20.5	31.6	5.3
Ekos	Apr 29-May 1	6.4	33.9	6.0	21.0	31.2	10.1
Decima	Apr 28-May 1	6	36	6	19	30	7
Compas	Apr 28-29	7	46	4	17	26	14
AngusReid	Apr 28-29	6	37	4	19	33	5
Ipsos	Apr 26-28	7	38	4	18	33	6

						OTH
DemocraticSpace.com	24	149	0	55	79	1
Ekos	15	138	1	41	113	2
ElectionPrediction.org	33	146	0	63	65	1
Laurier Institute ofPublic Policy	15	144	0	77	98	0
Threehundredeight.com	27	143	0	60	78	0

Note: Since Ekos and Democratic Spacepredictions are given as a range, the mid-points are entered in thistable

Closest races in 2011

François Lapointe (NDP) -Montmagny--L'Islet--Kamouraska--Rivière-du-Loup, QC - won by 9votes (0.02% margin) after a judicial recount. Election night resultsplaced his opponent Bernard Généreux (CON) in first placeby 100 votes, but this was reversed to a 5 vote victory by Lapointe(0.01% margin) when the results were by validated. The judicial recountthat followed was held automatically.

Jay Aspin (CON) - Nipissing--Timiskaming, ON -won by 14 votes (0.03% margin) on election night; Anthony Rota (LIB)finished second.. A judicial recount confirmed Aspin as the victor by a18 vote margin (0.04%).

Ted Opitz (CON) - Etobicoke Centre, ON - ajudicial recount confirmed Opitz won by 26 votes (0.05% margin). He wasdeclared the winner on election night by 25 votes (0.05% margin); BorisWrzesnewskyj (LIB) finished second.

Kevin Lamoureux (LIB) - Winnipeg North, MB - wonby 45 votes (0.18%) in the election night tally; Rebecca Blaikie (NDP)finished second. A judicial recount is not automatic when the margin ismore than 0.1%, but it was requested in this case by an elector. Thejudicial recount confirmed Lamoureux as winner, by 44 votes (0.17%).

Counting ballots and verifying results

On election night, the ballot papers are countedone at a time.  When all the ballots are counted for one pollingstation, the results are submitted electronically to Elections Canada.These are broadcast to the public as they come in.  When all theballots are counted on election night, these totals are known as the"preliminary results".  Over the next seven days the process ofverifying the results occurs.  In each riding, the totals forevery polling stations are checked and added up once more, before beingsubmitted to Elections Canada; these are known as the "validatedresults." 

In very close contests, recounts of each ballotpaper can be undertaken. Judicial recounts are mandatory in ridingswhere the winning margin is less than 0.1% of the total valid votescast. For example, in a riding where 100,000 valid votes were counted,a judicial recount will be held if the winning margin is less than 100votes; for more information, consult the Elections Canada fact sheet onwhat happens after electors vote or theManualon Judicial Recounts. Recounts can also be requested by anyone whoasserts that ballots were improperly counted or rejected. Theperiod in which recounts are held can take a few days or weeks tocomplete. When all the judicial recounts are completed and the finalappeals are disposed of, Elections Canada issues the "officialresults"; these results are usually published 2 or 3 months afterelection day.

Some oddities about the electoral system in2011

The whimsies of Canada's single member pluralityelectoral system produced some rather strange results in the 2011election. For example, Quebec voters contributed 36% of the total votescast for the NDP across Canada, but Quebec MPs will comprise 57% of theNDP's national caucus.

The Bloc Quebecois suffered a battering akin tothe Progressive Conservatives in 1993. The BQ's seats were reduced byalmost 92%. While almost 1 in 4 Quebecois voted BQ, only 1 in 20 ofQuebec's MPs are BQ. Both the Conservatives and Liberals receivedsignificantly fewer votes than the BQ but won more seats in Quebec, 6and 7 respectively. (It should be noted that the BQ had previouslybenefited from the electoral system, winning a far higher share of theseats than votes in every election since 1993.)

The Conservatives increased their share of theOntario vote by 5 percentage points but saw their share of the seatsgrow by 20 percentage points.

The NDP increased their share of the vote inManitoba, but their number of seats was cut in half.

The NDP set a record of sorts for 21st centuryelections, in winning almost a third of the votes in Saskatchewanwithout winning a single seat.

For information about alternative electoralsystems, see theelectoral reform section ofthis site.