The 1996 Prince Edward Island general election was held on November 18, 1996. It was the first election in the province's history to not use multi-member constituencies, and instead elect a single member in each of 27 districts. (Previously, since 1873 the province had been divided into 15 or 16 districts, each electing two members.)
The governing Liberals of Premier Keith Milligan, who had been in power since Joe Ghiz first won government in 1986, lost to the resurgent Progressive Conservatives under their new leader, Pat Binns.
This was also the first election where a party other than the Liberals or Tories won a seat in the Legislature, with New Democratic Party leader Herb Dickieson winning a three-way race in a Prince County riding.
This election was the only one in PEI history where a party formed government without winning a majority of the vote until the 2015 election.
Party standings
{| style="width:55%; text-align:center;"
|+ ↓
|- style="color:white;"
| style="background:#9999FF; width:66.66%;" | 18
| style="background:#EA6D6A; width:29.63%;" | 8
| style="background:#FF9900; width:3.70%;" | 1
|-
| <span style="color:#9999FF;">PC</span>
| <span style="color:#EA6D6A;">Liberal</span>
| <span style="color:#FF9900;">NDP</span>
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable"
!rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party
!rowspan="2"|Party Leader
!colspan="3"|Seats
!colspan="2"|Popular Vote
|-
!1993
!Elected
!Change
!#
!%
|Progressive Conservative
|Pat Binns
| align=right|1
! align=right|18
| align=right|+17
! align=right|37,910
! align=right|47.39%
|Liberal
|Keith Milligan
! align=right|31
| align=right|8
| align=right|-23
| align=right|35,802
| align=right|44.76%
|New Democrats
|Herb Dickieson
| align=right|-
| align=right|1
| align=right|+1
| align=right|6,283
| align=right|7.85
|-
! align=left colspan=2|Total
! align=right|
! align=right|32
! align=right|27
! align=right|
! align=right|79,995
! align=right|100%
|-
|}
Members elected
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|1. Souris-Elmira
||
|Andy Mooney<br />1,287
|
|Ross Young<br />1,159
|
|Brian MacDonald<br />54
||
|Ross Young & Roger Soloman†<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">1st Kings</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|2. Morell-Fortune Bay
||
|Kevin MacAdam<br />1,347
|
|Walter Bradley<br />1,269
|
|Kathy Murphy<br />40
||
|Walter Bradley & Claude Matheson†<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">2nd Kings</span>
|-
|rowspan=3 bgcolor="whitesmoke"|3. Georgetown-Baldwin's Road
|rowspan=3 |
|rowspan=3|Michael Currie<br />1,463
|rowspan=3|
|rowspan=3|Rose Marie MacDonald<br />1,182
|rowspan=3|
|rowspan=3|Patricia Allen<br />43
||
|Peter Doucette† & Roberta Hubley†<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">3rd Kings</span>
|-
|colspan=2 bgcolor=whitesmoke align=center|Merged riding
|-
||
|Rose Marie MacDonald & Barry Hicken‡<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">5th Kings</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|4. Montague-Kilmuir
||
|Jim Bagnall<br />1,259
|
|Beverly Deelstra<br />964
|
|Janet Gillis<br />71
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|5. Murray River-Gaspereaux
||
|Pat Binns<br />1,309
|
|Barry Hicken<br />1,022
|
|Alan Hicken<br />112
||
|Stanley Bruce †<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">4th Kings</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|6. Belfast-Pownal Bay
||
|Wilbur MacDonald<br />1,275
|
|Lynwood MacPherson<br />1,242
|
|Edith Perry<br />99
||
|Lynwood MacPherson<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">4th Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|7. Glen Stewart-Bellevue Cove
||
|Pat Mella<br />2,357
|
|Mary Hughes<br />914
|
|Pat Burgoyne<br />146
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Pat Mella (PC) & Tom Dunphy† (Lib) <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">3rd Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|8. Tracadie-Fort Augustus
||
|Mildred Dover<br />1,511
|
|Alan McIsaac<br />1,279
|
|Suzanne Gibler<br />90
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|9. Stanhope-East Royalty
||
|Jamie Ballem<br />1,625
|
|Eddie Reardon<br />1,404
|
|Leo Cheverie<br />165
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|10. Sherwood-Hillsborough
||
|Elmer MacFadyen<br />1,585
|
|Larry Hughes<br />1,212
|
|Ronald Kelly<br />207
|rowspan=3 |
|rowspan=3|Wayne Cheverie <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">5th Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|11. Parkdale-Belvedere
||
|Chester Gillan<br />1,584
|
|Stephen Dowling<br />1,008
|
|Larry Duchesne<br />169
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|12. Charlottetown-Kings Square
|
|Brian McKenna<br />1,075
||
|Wayne Cheverie<br />1,345
|
|Sybil Frei<br />363
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|13. Charlottetown-Rochford Square
|
|Jeff Lantz<br />1,242
||
|Paul Connolly<br />1,348
|
|Mark Forrest<br />226
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Paul Connolly <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">6th Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|14. Charlottetown-Spring Park
||
|Wes MacAleer<br />1,481
|
|Ian MacDonald<br />1,119
|
|Leo Broderick<br />862
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|15. Winsloe-West Royalty
||
|Don MacKinnon<br />1,751
|
|Perley MacNeill<br />1,575
|
|James Rodd<br />190
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|16. North River-Rice Point
|
|Brian Dollar<br />1,606
||
|Ron MacKinley<br />1,958
|
|Marlene Hunt<br />224
||
|Gordon MacInnis‡ & Ron MacKinley<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">2nd Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|17. Crapaud-Hazel Grove
||
|Norman MacPhee<br />1,666
|
|Eric MacArthur<br />1,529
|
|J'Nan Brown<br />312
||
|Marion Murphy†<br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">1st Queens</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|18. Park Corner-Oyster Bed
||
|Beth MacKenzie<br />1,824
|
|Gordon MacInnis<br />1,652
|
|Gerard Gallant<br />187
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|19. Borden-Kinkora
||
|Eric Hammill<br />1,521
|
|Stavert Huestis<br />1,310
|
|Gerard Sexton<br />195
||
|Stavert Huestis & Libbe Hubley† <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">4th Prince</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|20. Kensington-Malpeque
||
|Mitch Murphy<br />2,020
|
|Bill Campbell<br />1,312
|
|Calvin Roberts<br />227
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|21. Wilmot-Summerside
||
|Greg Deighan<br />1,506
|
|Walter McEwen<br />1,394
|
|Bill McKinnon<br />492
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Walter McEwen & Nancy Guptill <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">5th Prince</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|22. St. Eleanors-Summerside
|
|Gardiner MacNeill<br />1,145
||
|Nancy Guptill<br />1,716
|
|Marsha Arseneault<br />307
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|23. Cascumpec-Grand River
|
|Barry Balsom<br />715
||
|Keith Milligan<br />1,823
|
|Donna Lewis<br />162
||
|Keith Milligan <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">2nd Prince</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|24. Evangeline-Miscouche
|
|Gerard Richard<br />735
||
|Robert Maddix<br />1,519
|
|Gerard Bernard<br />188
||
|Robert Maddix <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">3rd Prince</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|25. West Point-Bloomfield
|
|Gary Morgan<br />695
|
|Fairley Yeo<br />783
||
|Herb Dickieson<br />921
|colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|New District
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|26. Alberton-Miminegash
|
|Eddie Trail<br />1,127
||
|Hector MacLeod<br />1,351
|
|Ed Kilfoil<br />175
|rowspan=2 |
|rowspan=2|Bobby Morrissey & Hector MacLeod <br /><span style="font-size: 75%;">1st Prince</span>
|-
|bgcolor="whitesmoke"|27. Tignish-DeBlois
|
|Gail Shea<br />1,149
||
|Bobby Morrissey<br />1,413
|
|Howard Waite<br />56
|}
See also
- 2000 Prince Edward Island general election
- List of Prince Edward Island general elections (post-Confederation)
- List of PEI political parties