Canada 1988 federal election
What was the result of the 1988 federal election in Canada?
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada won 169 of 295 seats with 42.7% of the vote. 75.3% of registered voters cast a ballot.
Canada- Held:
- Final result
- ParlGov, read 5 October 2026
Which party won the most seats?
Final results from ParlGov, read : Progressive Conservative Party of Canada won 169 of 295 seats with 42.7% of the vote; 75.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, unchanged on 1984.
- Progressive Conservative Party of Canada 169 −42 seats 42.7% −7.4 points
- Liberal Party of Canada 83 +43 seats 31.7% +3.6 points
- Co-operative Commonwealth Federation / New Democratic Party 43 +13 seats 20.2% +1.4 points
- Reform Party of Canada 0 2.1%
- Seats won
- Change on the previous election at the right
- Share of the vote
- Share at the previous election
- Change in points at the right
Changes are against the Canada 1984 federal election, party by party.
- Progressive Conservative Party of Canada169
- Liberal Party of Canada83
- Co-operative Commonwealth Federation / New Democratic Party43
Key numbers
42.7%
Share of the vote won by Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada won 169 of 295 seats. A majority needs 148.
+43 seats
Seats gained by Liberal Party of Canada
The largest gain in seats compared with 1984. Progressive Conservative Party of Canada lost 42 seats.
75.3%
Voter turnout
Unchanged on 1984.
Seats and votes by party
| Party | Seats | ± seats | % | ± points | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Conservative Party of Canada | 169 | −42 | 42.7 | −7.4 | 5,667,563 |
| Liberal Party of Canada | 83 | +43 | 31.7 | +3.6 | 4,205,072 |
| Co-operative Commonwealth Federation / New Democratic Party | 43 | +13 | 20.2 | +1.4 | 2,685,308 |
| Reform Party of Canada | 0 | 2.1 | 275,767 |
± is the change against the Canada 1984 federal election, party by party.
Votes by party
- Progressive Conservative Party of Canada 5,667,563
- Liberal Party of Canada 4,205,072
- Co-operative Commonwealth Federation / New Democratic Party 2,685,308
- Reform Party of Canada 275,767
ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.
How many people voted?
75.3% of the 17,639,001 registered voters cast a ballot (13,281,191 ballots), unchanged on 1984. 13,281,191 of them were valid votes.
How do the votes compare with the seats?
- Progressive Conservative Party of Canada42.7% of votes57.3% of seats
- Liberal Party of Canada31.7% of votes28.1% of seats
- Co-operative Commonwealth Federation / New Democratic Party20.2% of votes14.6% of seats
- Reform Party of Canada2.1% of votes0.0% of seats
The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 11.5 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.1 by votes and 2.3 by seats; Progressive Conservative Party of Canada led Liberal Party of Canada by 11.0 points of the vote.
Time and source Data as of