Marginal Seats in the 2011 Canadian Election

Some of the more interesting local contests to watch in the 2011 elections are the marginal seats, where the winning candidates in the 2008 election only won with very slim margins of victory.  In the 2008 general elections, 42 candidates won their seats with a margin of 5% or less over the second placed candidate in their ridings. It would take very little movement among the voters for these seats to change hands. The outcome of the 2008 election can be summed up by the fact that the Conservatives not only retained 17 of the 18 marginal seats they had won in 2006, but picked up anohter 11 marginal seats. In contrast, the Liberals lost 14 of their 22 and only won 2 others. The Liberals had a net loss of 12 seats among the 49 marginal seats from 2006. Even so, the Conservatives face a more precarious position going into the next general elections, since they won 17 seats with less than 5% of the vote in 2008.