1872 Canadian Federal Election
July 20–October 12, 1872 · Macdonald's Canada · 200 seats, 101 for a majority
Macdonald hung on with a bare working majority against Blake and Mackenzie's Liberals, the campaign financed by railway promoter Hugh Allan's money, the seed of the Pacific Scandal that destroyed the government within a year.
Prime Minister before
John A. Macdonald
Conservative
Prime Minister (continued)
John A. Macdonald
Conservative
Government formed
Conservative
minority government
Turnout
70.3%
The result
| Share of House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John A. Macdonald | 100 | 0 | 123,100 | 38.7% | +3.7 | |
| Liberal | Edward Blake (unofficial) | 94 | +32 | 110,556 | 34.7% | +12.0 |
6 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.
Elections before 1874 were held over several weeks of open (non-secret) voting, and many seats went uncontested, so vote totals understate real support.
The result by province & territory
Seats won and vote share in each province and territory. Blank cells mean the party did not contest the province; the results table splits allied labels (Liberal-Conservatives, farmers' candidates, independents) that the headline figures group together.
| Conservative | 14.5% | 129.7% | 2625.9% | 2531.5% | 28.4% | 723.5% | 6225.8% |
| Liberal-Conservative | 3 | 1 | 1211.9% | 1210.5% | 317.8% | 619.8% | 3712.9% |
| Liberal | 283.7% | 135.6% | 4835.3% | 2632.6% | 946.8% | 828.1% | 9434.7% |
| Conservative Labour | 10.9% | 10.4% | |||||
| Unknown | 011.8% | 014.9% | 023.4% | 021.5% | 026.9% | 016.4% | 022.2% |
| Independent | 00.8% | 11.7% | 1 | 06.1% | 21.6% | ||
| Independent Liberal | 11.7% | 1 | 06.1% | 21.6% | |||
| Independent Conservative | 119.8% | 12.2% | 20.7% | ||||
| Total seats | 6 | 4 | 88 | 65 | 16 | 21 | 200 |