Ontario general election, 1990

Ontario general election, 1990

← 1987 September 6, 1990 1995 →
130 seats in the 35th Legislative Assembly of Ontario 66 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Bob Rae David Peterson Mike Harris Party New Democratic Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since February 7, 1982 February 21, 1982 May 12, 1990 Leader's seat York South London Centre (lost re-election) Nipissing Last election 19 95 16 Seats won 74 36 20 Seat change 55 59 4 Popular vote 1,509,506 1,302,134 944,564 Percentage 37.6% 32.4% 23.5% Swing 11.9pp 14.9pp 1.2pp
Map of the 1990 election, showing the ridings and their popular vote
Premier before election David Peterson Liberal Premier-designate Bob Rae New Democratic

David Peterson
Liberal

Bob Rae
New Democratic

The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada.

The governing Ontario Liberal Party led by Premier David Peterson was unexpectedly defeated. Although the Peterson government was very popular, he was accused of opportunism in calling an election just three years into his mandate. In a shocking upset, the New Democratic Party, led by Bob Rae, won a majority government. This marked the first time the NDP had won government east of Manitoba, and to date the only time the NDP formed the government in Ontario.

The NDP had not expected to come close to winning power; indeed, Rae had already made plans to retire from politics after the election. However, the NDP managed to take many seats in the Greater Toronto Area (Rae himself represented York South, in Metro Toronto) from the Liberals. They also did better than ever before (or in some cases, since) in many other cities and rural areas. The NDP only finished five points ahead of the Liberals in the popular vote. However, due to the nature of the first-past-the-post electoral system, which ignores the popular vote and only awards power based on the number of ridings won, the NDP's gains in the GTA decimated the Liberal caucus. The Liberals lost 59 seats, the worst defeat in their history and the second-worst defeat for a governing party in Ontario. Peterson himself was heavily defeated in London Centre by NDP challenger Marion Boyd, losing by 8,200 votes—one of the few times a provincial premier has lost his own seat.